[Ip-health] MSF. Abbott should reconsider its unacceptable decision

[Buddhima Lokuge]

MSF Statement today on Abbotts' withdrawal of product registrations in
Thailand (see below).

MSF also made the following comments at a US congressional briefing on
Thailand and compulsory licenses.
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/speeches/2007/buddhima_lokuge_thailand.cfm

MSF has a long history of calling on the company to make heat stable
Kaletra available widely and at a price that is affordable in middle
income countries including Thailand. Abbott has not responded to these
calls for more than a year.
www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/hiv-aids/kaletra_briefingdoc.cfm

MSF. Abbott should reconsider its unacceptable decision to not sell new
medicines in Thailand

Geneva 23rd March 2007 Since November 2006. Thailand has issued compulsory
licenses for three medicines, including the AIDS drugs efavirenz and
lopinavir/ritonavir. This procedure authorises the country to begin
producing or importing generic versions of the drugs. The use of
compulsory licenses to improve access to essential medicines is fully
consistent with the World Trade Organization TRIPS Agreement, which sets
out the international rules on patents.  In using compulsory licences to
promote access, Thailand is also heeding to the advice of the World Bank.

In reaction to the Thai health authorities decision, Abbott, the
Chicago-based multinational pharmaceutical company, has decided to
withdraw all applications to register drugs in Thailand, including a
crucially important HIV/Aids drug (heat-stable lopinavir/ritonavir,
marketed as Kaletra), and to not bring to market any new medicines in the
country.

The medical humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
strongly condemns this decision.  'What Abbott is doing is trying to
protect high drug prices by actively denying an entire population access
to new medicines it produces.  This is as unprecedented as it is shocking.
 We consider it unethical and utterly unacceptable' said Dr. Tido von
Schoen-Angerer, Director of MSF's Campaign for Access to Essential
Medicines. 'We call upon Abbott to reconsider its decision'.

MSF furthermore calls on governments and relevant international
organisations to express their support to all countries that make use of
the flexibilities in patent laws. The silence from policy makers on what
is happening in Thailand today is unacceptable. If governments are serious
about promoting access to medicines for all, they must unequivocally
support such actions in the spirit of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and
Public Health.

'We fully understand people and organisations in Thailand that are
choosing to boycott Abbott's products as a way to express their anger at
being held hostage by the company' said Paul Cawthorne, Head of Mission
for MSF in Thailand.  'MSF will continue to support these organisations in
their efforts and struggle to access affordable new medicines'.