The presidents of Argentina and Brazil Friday suggested that developing countries be allowed to lift patent rights so they can produce more vaccines to battle the A/H1N1 swine flu epidemic.

In a speech at a regional Mercosur leaders summit in Paraguay, Argentine Cristina Fernandez said changing the status quo "does not mean disavowing the patents law," according to a report by the state news agency Telam.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed that leaders discuss breaking the patents law to help contain the epidemic, according to a report by Brazil's state news agency Agencia Brasil.

The news agency also said Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao is negotiating with all vaccine producers to boost the vaccine's availability.

"Brazil is willing to defend the health security of its population," the minister was quoted as saying.

Brazil has been adept in recent years at getting pharmaceutical companies to offer discounts on HIV medication. In 2007 the government issued a compulsory license to break the patent on an anti-retroviral AIDS drug made by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. (MRK).

Argentina's Fernandez, meanwhile, said leaders to work "to lift patent rights and that way allow a vaccine to offer solutions for millions of people."

Fernandez said Argentina and Brazil both have highly developed pharmaceutical industries and should be able to produce vaccine "that wouldn't be free."

"But," Fernandez added, "it's beyond question that we're confronting a situation in which the needs of millions of people cannot be subordinated to economic interests."

Mercosur is a regional customs union founded by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

- By Taos Turner, Dow Jones Newswires; 5411-4103-6728; taos.turner@dowjones.com