Costa Rica’s health minister, María Luisa Avila, accused Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis of failing to keep and agreement to donate swine flu vaccines in exchange for using Costa Rica as a test-bed for the new medicine.

In August, the Costa Rican government allowed Novartis to test the vaccine on 784 Costa Ricans as a prelude to its commercial development.

Novartis, however, has denied that the accord with the Costa Rican government included a donation of vaccine. It attributed the dispute to a misunderstanding.

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