[A2k] Thailand backs off threat to break drug patents

Tue Feb 13 12:43:04 2007

Generic drugs, key to solving world health problems, are slowed down by
global pharmas

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From: Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>
Date: Feb 13, 2007 1:10 AM

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=3DreadNews&itemid=3D3402&la=
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Thailand backs off threat to break drug patents
Thailand wants to lower the price of two patented drugs
Piya Wong
8 February 2007
Source: SciDev.Net

[BANGKOK] Thailand has delayed breaking the patent of an AIDS drug and
a heart medicine, and entered into negotiations with drug firms to
lower the price so that more people can be treated.

The negotiation panel of the Public Health Ministry yesterday (7
February) held its first talks with US firm Abbott to discuss a price
reduction for the AIDS drug Kaletra.

Thawat Suntrajarn, head of the department of disease control, said the
firm had offered to drop the price from around US$260 per person per
month, to US$170. But the offer failed to satisfy the ministry, and
the two sides agreed to negotiate again next month.

Last month the government threatened to break the patent on both
Kaletra and Plavix, a heart medicine produced by Sanofi-Aventis and
Bristol-Meyers Squibb. It issued two compulsory licenses, which, under
World Trade Organization rules, would have allowed other firms to
produce the patented products without the patent owners' consent.

Had the Plavix license gone ahead, it would have marked the first time
that a developing country had used compulsory licensing to challenge
patents for a 'life-style' disease =97 one that is not for AIDS or an
epidemic.

But the move drew strong opposition from the drug producers. The World
Health Organization pursuaded the Thai government to negotiate with
drug firms before issuing a compulsory license.

According to Thawat, the government is willing to give drug firms a
fair chance to deal with the matter. "It's also partly because our
drug production capacity for this drug is not quite up and in place,"
he added.

Kaletra is relied upon by about 20,000 HIV/AIDS patients in Thailand
who have developed resistance to the more conventional drugs, placing
a severe financial burden on the public health service.

Nimit Tienudom, director of the Bangkok-based Aids Access Foundation,
said compulsory licensing could prove a crucial tool, empowering the
government to bargain for public interests.

But Switzerland-based Ellen Hoen, from Med=E9cins sans Fronti=E8res,
cautioned that negotiation may not be the best way forward.

"History has shown that the best way to bring prices down is by
competition and generic production," Hoen told SciDev.Net.

She cited a similar case in Brazil, which ended up with relatively
high drug prices being fixed for a number of years.

The ministry has not yet made clear what steps will be taken for Plavix.

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