[Ip-health] WHO raps compulsory licensing plan. Govt urged to seek talks with drug firms

[Alexandra HEUMBER]

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http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/02Feb2007_news15.php


WHO raps compulsory licensing plan
Govt urged to seek talks with drug firms

APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

The World Health Organisation yesterday cautioned Thailand over its move
to adopt compulsory licensing for producing generic versions of heart
disease and anti-Aids drugs.
''I'd like to underline that we have to find a right balance for
compulsory licensing. We can't be naive about this. There is no perfect
solution for accessing drugs in both quality and quantity,'' said WHO
director-general Margaret Chan.
Speaking during a visit to the National Health Security Office, Dr Chan
said she truly felt that the pharmaceutical industry was part of the
solution to better drug access and that the government should open
negotiations with drug firms over the issue.
She encouraged the Public Health Ministry to improve the public-private
partnership in order to give the public better access to drugs. Public
Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla declined to comment on the issue.
The president of Aids Access Foundation, Nimit Tienudom, dismissed the WHO
director-general's standpoint. ''It's disappointing. The organisation
should have supported drug access and promoted the study of quality and
inexpensive drugs for the sake of the global population rather than
supporting pharmaceutical giants.''
The ministry last week endorsed a policy for the compulsory licensing of
two drugs _ Kaletra, an advanced anti-Aids drug, and Plavix, a treatment
for heart disease by invoking Article 51 of the 1992 Patent Law to import
or produce a generic version of the two drugs.
In November, the ministry issued the same law to import and produce the
anti-Aids drug Efavirenz, resulting in a reduction in the price from 1,400
baht to 700 baht per monthly course.
Plavix will cost just six baht per tablet under compulsory licensing,
while the original price was 70 baht. The patented regimen of the
second-line anti-retroviral drug costs 11,580 baht a month per patient and
this could be cut to a third under compulsory licensing.
Thailand is the first developing country to invoke compulsory licensing
under the World Trade Organisation's rules for a non-Aids related drug.
The WTO allows a government to declare a ''national emergency'' and
license the production or sale of a patented drug for state use. The
patent holder would receive royalties equal to 0.5% of the annual sales,
according to the ministerial plan.
About 108,000 of 500,000 people living with HIV/Aids depend on GPO-VIR,
the generic version of the first-line anti-retroviral therapy produced by
the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation. An estimated 20,000
HIV-positive people have developed resistance to the drug, and need a
combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, which is marketed as Kaletra.
However the country's Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers
Association disapproves of the decision, claiming that compulsory
licensing could result in more companies relinquishing patents for heart
and anti-Aids drugs and that it could lead to the isolation of Thailand
from the global biotechnology investment community.
Kaletra is manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, and Plavix by
Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squib.

=A9 Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2006
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SIGN MSF'S 'DROP THE CASE' PETITION

Millions of people around the world today rely on affordable medicines
produced in India.  Pharmaceutical company Novartis is taking the Indian
government to court to force a change in the country's patent law.  If
Novartis wins, a major source of affordable medicines for millions of
people across the globe could dry up.

MSF is urging Novartis to DROP THE CASE.

Find out more and sign up to our petition:
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Alexandra Heumber
EU Advocacy Liaison Officer
M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res
Access to Essential Medicines Campaign
Rue Dupr=E9, 94. 1090 Brussels
++32 (0) 2 474 75 09 (Dir off)
++ 32 (0) 479 514 900 (Mob)
++ 32 (0) 2 474 75 75 (Fax)
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