[Ip-health] Thai Daily: Mounting opposition to FTA drug rules

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.manager.co.th/IHT/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=3D9490000005120

Mounting opposition to FTA drug rules

Thai Daily
Daniel Ten Kate
13 January 2006

Calls to drop issues regarding intellectual property rights from the US
trade talks grew louder yesterday as Thai negotiators rejected proposals
on medicine production that go beyond World Trade Organization agreements.

=93Thailand cannot approve a request on protecting the exclusive rights of
drug test information and data exclusivity,=94 Pakdee Pothisiri,
secretary-general of the Food and Drug Administration and a participant
in the negotiations, told reporters yesterday. =93Although the price of
drugs will not go up automatically after signing the deal, if Thailand
must produce generic drugs more slowly then that will lead to a monopoly
of the drug that has the patent.=94

Concerns over how long it will take new generic AIDS-fighting
antiretroviral drugs to hit the market have loomed over the sixth round
of trade talks in Chiang Mai. Top trade negotiators from the US and
Thailand are scheduled to brief reporters today on the week=92s progress.

All of the bilateral or regional trade deals the US has negotiated in
the past few years have included provisions dealing with drug patents,
data protection and compulsory licenses that go beyond the WTO=92s
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS). Even so, Thai negotiators have said they will negotiate the
deal based on the WTO agreement.

=93Regarding the issue of patents, the US proposal said the patent
duration should be extended from the TRIPS agreement, but it doesn=92t say
how long,=94 Pakdee said. =93If the period is extended, it will affect the
drug price or access to drugs.=94

US negotiators have discussed the talks with a wide array of interested
parties this week, but the international humanitarian organization
M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res canceled a scheduled meeting yesterday because
the US did not want journalists to attend, said Paul Cawthorne, MSF=92s
representative in Thailand.

=93The US has done this before and they say a lot of good words and then
nothing happens,=94 he said in an interview. =93If they are willing to have
an open meeting, then we will meet.=94

US Trade Representative spokesperson Neena Moorjani said: =93We don=92t
think it=92s unreasonable to sit down and discuss the issues with no media
present.=94 Negotiators have met with the press =93in several other fora
this week,=94 Moorjani said.

=93We are disappointed that the NGOs that have expressed concern about the
IPR provisions have just decided to cancel a meeting with us that was
supposed to take place tomorrow,=94 she added. =93The door remains open. We
want to sit down with these groups and clear up the misunderstandings
they have.=94

Yet it remains unclear how far the discussions have really come. Senator
Kraisak Choonhaven met with US negotiators on Wednesday, and called for
Thailand to reject any chapter on intellectual property rights in an
interview yesterday.

Chief US negotiator Barbara Weisel =93tried to put our concerns at ease by
stating that there would be no increase in drug prices,=94 Kraisak said.
=93But that=92s not what we=92re concerned about. We=92re concerned that an=
 FTA
will block production of generic drugs.=94

Kraisak, who plans to bring a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality
of the trade talks before the Constitutional Court next week, added that
a delay in generic drug production would =93definitely lead to higher drug
prices.=94

=93The only options for the government now are to pull out of the talks or
sell the country down the drain on public health for dubious returns,=94
he said.

The US argues that its IP proposals strike a balance between giving poor
patients access to drugs while still providing incentives for
pharmaceutical companies to research and develop new drugs. Protecting
the data of drugs for five years after patents expire helps drug
companies recoup their development costs, US officials claim.

When asked yesterday if the US would agree to a deal that does not
include intellectual property provisions that go beyond TRIPS, Moorjani
replied, =93We have not concluded any previous FTAs that did not include
these provisions.=94

=93Thailand was well aware of US FTA provisions including what we are
looking for with regard to the IPR chapter,=94 she added. =93This is nothin=
g
new to them. US FTAs maintain the same standards no matter which country
we are negotiating with.=94

Intellectual property rights provisions have proved controversial in
other trade deals the US has negotiated as well.

The implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement,

or CAFTA, has reportedly been delayed because some governments have
balked at changing their laws beyond WTO requirements.

Thai trade negotiators have expressed concerns about intellectual
property rights since the trade talks commenced in June 2004.

But many activists who see IPR as the key issue in the talks remain
doubtful that government officials appreciate just how much laws would
change if Thailand agrees to a deal similar to other agreements the US
has negotiated.

=93I think the government is not really completely aware of what might
happen,=94 MSF=92s Cawthorne said.

=93In other agreements IPR has seemed to fly under the radar screen, and
governments don=92t really understand what it entails until they start
implementing the provisions. Then they say, =91Oh shit, what did we agree
to?=92=94



--
Mike Palmedo
Research and Web
Consumer Project on Technology
T =96 202-332-2670
F =96 202-332-2673
mpalmedo@cptech.org