[Ip-health] Thailand: Compulsory Licensing Efforts Proceed

[robert weissman]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/27Jun2007_news05.php

Bangkok Post
Wednesday June 27, 2007

*Govt to import generic version of heart drug*

/*Health minister sticks to his guns over prices*/

*APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL*

Thailand plans to import a generic version of the heart drug
clopidogrel, marketed as Plavix, from an Indian drug maker next month as
price negotiations with patent holder Sanofi-Aventis have shown no signs
of progress. ''If the price of the original heart drug cannot be reduced
by more than this, any further negotiations may not be necessary. We
will buy the generic version to treat patients instead,'' said Public
Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla yesterday.

Thailand issued compulsory licences to bypass patents on the anti-Aids
drug Efavirenz last November, followed by licences for Kaletra and then
the heart medicine Plavix in January.

Negotiations to bring down drug prices have been taking place since late
March between the government and the pharmaceutical giants Merck, Abbott
Laboratories and Sanofi-Aventis, the patent holders of the drugs.
However, no agreement has been reached.

The government is asking the firms to lower the drug prices to a maximum
of 5% above the prices of the generic versions of the medicines.

But Sanofi-Aventis is standing by its price of 27 baht a tablet for
patients receiving treatment under the Social Security Office and
universal healthcare scheme.

The firm also demanded the compulsory licence for Plavix be revoked.

Dr Mongkol, who was attending a meeting in Geneva, said the ministry is
going to import a second-line heart drug from a generic maker in India
next month due to the urgent need for the medicine among Thai patients.

Thailand is currently only able to produce first-line heart medications.

The second-line heart drug produced by the Indian drug maker costs only
about three baht per tablet and is still under the registration process
with the Food and Drug Administration, he said.

Dr Mongkol said he was also working on cutting the price of cancer drugs
to about 20 times below those of original versions via compulsory
licensing.

According to a source at the National Health Security Office (NHSO), the
leukaemia drug Imatinib is among the list of cancer drugs being targeted
for compulsory licensing. The medicine is not yet available under the
universal healthcare scheme due to its high cost. Cancer patients have
to spend up to 4,000 baht a day on the medication.

The government spent more than 1.2 billion baht last year on about
50,000 cancer patients receiving treatment through the universal
healthcare scheme run by the NHSO.

Cancer is the among the most likely causes of death among Thais, along
with accidents, HIV/Aids, heart disease and natural causes.

The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation has begun importing the
generic version of Efavirenz from a drug maker in India and plans to buy
Plavix and also Aluvia, the heat-stable version of Kaletra, next month