[Ip-health] The Associated Press: Thailand to talk with U.S. about drug patents after being targeted for copyright violations

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Thailand to talk with U.S. about drug patents after being targeted for
copyright violations

The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 1, 2007


BANGKOK, Thailand: Thailand's health minister will travel to Washington
to explain the decision to break a patent on an AIDS drug produced by
an American company, an official said Tuesday.

On Monday, the U.S. government included Thailand among 12 countries on
an annual "Priority Watch List" of nations where American companies
face particular problems with protection of intellectual property
rights.

Countries on the list are under extra scrutiny and could face trade
sanctions if violations worsen.

"This reflects the concerns that Thailand's measures in the protection
of copyrights and intellectual property rights have been weaker during
the past period," U.S. Ambassador Ralph Boyce told a news conference.

Boyce said the breaking of the patent on the AIDS drug was one of the
concerns that prompted Washington to place Thailand under extra
scrutiny.

According to World Trade Organization agreements, governments can issue
compulsory licenses allowing the manufacture, import and sale of
cheaper generic versions of drugs in case of a national public health
emergency. Such actions have been taken by several countries for AIDS
medicines.

Thailand in January issued compulsory licenses for two drugs =97 a heart
disease medicine and the AIDS drug Kaletra produced by U.S. drug maker
Abbott Laboratories. Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said
the decision was made because the government could only afford to
provide the expensive AIDS drug to one-fifth of the 500,000 people
living with HIV in Thailand.

Abbott responded by declaring it would not introduce any new drugs in
Thailand because its intellectual property rights were not honored. The
company later offered to sell AIDS drugs at a lower price, apparently
in exchange for the lifting of the compulsory licensing.

"The Thai health minister will travel to the U.S. in the coming weeks
to explain (the situation) to Washington," Deputy Prime Minister Kosit
Punpiemrat told reporters Tuesday after a weekly Cabinet meeting. He
provided no further details.

A U.S.- based health activist group, Essential Action, called
Washington's stance "outrageous, cynical and shameful."

"By using legal methods to authorize price-lowering generic competition
on overpriced AIDS and heart-disease drugs, Thailand has shown the
world what it means to place public health over commercial
considerations," the group said in a statement. "The message is that
Thailand should back down =97 but worse, that other countries should not
dare to follow Thailand's example."

Washington has long had problems with piracy and copyright infringement
in Thailand, particularly of movies, music, software, books and
brand-name fashion wear. The country was on the Priority Watch List in
1989-1992 but has been on the less serious "Watch List" for the past 15
years.

Thailand's current government was installed after a military coup last
September ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org