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Thailand to Negotiate With Bristol-Myers Squibb
Subject:
Thailand to Negotiate With Bristol-Myers Squibb
Date:
Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:35:10 -0500 (EST)
From:
richard@atdn.org (Richard Jefferys)
Reply-To:
healthgap@CritPath.Org
To:
Multiple recipients of list <healthgap@CritPath.Org>
http://HIV.medscape.com/reuters/prof/1999/11/11.16/rg11169c.html
Thailand to Negotiate With Bristol-Myers Squibb For Production of Generic DdI
By Veena Nagarajan
BANGKOK, Nov 16 (Reuters Health) - The Thai government has announced that
it will negotiate with Bristol-Myers Squibb to manufacture locally a
generic version of the antiretroviral drug didanosine (ddI).
With the move, Thailand is likely to become the first developing nation to
seek compulsory license under the set of World Trade Organization
agreements known as TRIPS, or Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights.
Generic production will reduce the price of the drug by at least 50%,
Krisana Kraisintu, head of the Research and Development Institute, of
Thailand's Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, told reporters last
weekend. One capsule of ddI presently costs 49 Thai Baht. (Exchange rate:
Bt38-39 to US$1.)
Thailand, where one million people are thought to be HIV infected, has the
technical capacity to produce HIV drugs if the raw materials can be
imported, according to a draft copy of a WHO/Medecins sans Frontieres
report on a fact-finding mission conducted in August.
While TRIPS allows both compulsory licensing and parallel import of
medicines, the US government has pressured developing countries to ban
these practices, according to the draft report, which was released
exclusively to Reuters Health.
"The TRIPS-PLUS policy of the US government has limited access to
affordable treatment for HIV/AIDS," Dr. Tido Von Schoen-Angerer, drug
project coordinator for Medecins sans Frontieres, told Reuters Health.
"The study in Thailand is important for the upcoming World Trade
Organization conference in Seattle in December," Dr. Von Schoen-Angerer
added.
The report notes that, "of the most expensive drugs linked with AIDS
patients' care," only zidovudine and fluconazole "...are available at an
affordable price, as a result of generic competition. Other
HIV/AIDS-related drugs are only marketed by the original manufacturer."
The Thai Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has supplied generic
zidovudine since 1993, leading to a fall in the price of a 100-mg capsule
from Bt48 in 1992 to Bt12 in 1995.
"While at least 60,000 people urgently need the medicines, only 2,500 can
afford it," Dr Chaiyos Kunanusont, of the Thai Ministry of Public Health
told Reuters Health. "What we need is a long-term activity to bring
access...In one year, we look forward to more access, lower price and a
better supply system for antiretroviral drugs. The problems here are bigger
and larger than ever expected."
"There is an urgent need to increase awareness about this in the West," he
added.
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