[Ip-health] Financial Times: Thailand confirms switch to generic medicines

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Thailand confirms switch to generic medicines

By Amy Kazmin in Bangkokand Andrew Jack in London

Published: January 30 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 30 2007 02:00

Two big drug companies came under pricing pressure yesterday when
Thailand confirmed it would override patents on their medicines and
start using cheaper generic equivalents.

The health ministry said it planned to issue compulsory licences
permitted under World Trade Organisation rules to buy generic versions
of Sanofi-Aventis' anti-blood clotting pill Plavix and Abbott's HIV
treatment Kaletra.

The move marks a fresh step in a long-standing battle pitching the
industry's efforts to defend its intellectual property against health
activists demanding more affordable access to drugs in the developing
world.

It takes further a threat made last year in relation to Stocrin, the
HIV drug made by Merck, which is still in discussions to cut the price
and prevent the import of generic alternatives.

Dr Mongkol na Songkla, public health minister, said the steps were
necessary to ensure broader access to life-saving medicines for
patients in Thailand's universal healthcare scheme. "We don't have
enough money to buy safe and necessary drugs," he said.

The ministry said cutting the price for Plavix from Bt70 ($2, =801.6, =A31)
to Bt6 per tablet would extend use beyond the current 20 per cent of
patients needing the drug that it estimates receive it.

Generic Kaletra would halve the cost for the 20,000 patients who
require it. Thailand has more than 500,000 people with HIV/Aids and the
military-installed government has pledged to make lifesaving medication
available to all those who need it.

In issuing the licences, Thailand would set a double precedent as a
large emerging market with a significant domestic drug production
capacity, and by extending them beyond "health emergencies" such as HIV
to treatments for heart disease.

Health activists welcomed the decision. "We've been dreaming of this
kind of action for years," said Paul Cawthorne of M=E9decins Sans
Fronti=E8res in Bangkok.

"They are . . . putting two fingers up to the drug companies and
saying, 'if you won't give us a price that we can begin to afford, we
are going to get this stuff from a generic company and use it in our
public health services'. It's like world war three."

Harvey Bale, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers and Associations, called for talks. "Compulsory licensing
can be a route to commercial abuse and can put patients at risk," he
said.

Abbott said: "We do not view them [the Thai actions] as legal or in the
best interests of patients."

Merck, Abbott and Sanofi-Aventis have taken part in programmes offering
big discounts on lifesaving drugs in the developing world, while
warning that overriding patents risks jeopardising quality and
undermining incentives for innovation.

Abbott reduced its price for Kaletra in Thailand and other emerging
countries last year but it still charges $2,200 per patient per year.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
CPTech
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@cptech.org