AP - CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Venezuela's trade minister says the government plans to annul the pharmaceutical patents for an antibiotic produced by Bayer HealthCare.

The Venezuelan Trade Ministry said in a statement that the government has begun a process to invalidate the patents after being alerted by the country's generic drug laboratories that Bayer is taking legal actions against those producing the antibiotic moxifloxacin.

Trade Minister Eduardo Saman announced the decision Friday. His agency said in a statement that authorities determined there were procedural problems in the granting of the patents in 1994 and 2000.

There was no immediate reaction from Bayer HealthCare, which is a unit of German drug and chemical company Bayer AG.

The Washington Examiner