[Ip-health] Outrage grows at US trade pressure - HIV groups to march on embassy; lobbyist linked to Thaksin PR firm

[Mike Palmedo]

http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/05/03/headlines/headlines_30033264.php

Outrage grows at US trade pressure - HIV groups to march on embassy;
lobbyist linked to Thaksin PR firm

The Nation
May 3, 2007

A rally will be held in front of the US Em-bassy in Bangkok today by the
Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids, to protest the US Trade
Representative's decision to downgrade Thailand's trade status.

Thailand's downgrade to the US Priority Watch List over copyright
violations is widely seen as retaliation against the Public Health
Ministry's move to enforce compulsory licensing on certain drugs -
including an Aids medicine sold by a US-based company.

"We have found that the affected company hired a lobbyist firm - USA for
Innovation - that recently spread false information about Thailand's
compulsory-licensing process," Aids Access Foundation director Nimit
Tienudom said yesterday.

He added that this lobbyist firm was also linked to ousted premier
Thaksin Shinawatra. "However, I don't know whether Thaksin is involved
in the misleading campaign," Nimit said.

The executive director of USA for Innovation is Ken Adelman, who is also
a senior adviser to Edelman Public Relations, which is also used by
Merck, Abbot Laboratories, Sanofi - and Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Aids Access Foundation and the Thai Network of People Living with
HIV/Aids are among non-governmental organisations that relea-sed a joint
statement supporting the Public Health Ministry's move to enforce
compulsory licensing.

Many academics, including Samlee Jaidee and Chulalongkorn University
lecturers Wittaya Kul-somboon and Jiraporn Limpana-nont, also signed the
statement.

The statement urged all government units to be united in the compulsory
licensing.

"In particular, the Foreign Affairs and Commerce ministries should fully
cooperate with the Public Health Ministry in explaining that the
compulsory-licensing process has been in line with Thai law and
international rules =85 don't alienate the Public Health Ministry," the
statement read.

An informed source disclosed that USA for Innovation - which claims to
be a non-profit organisation - recently launched a campaign about
violations of US intellectual-property rights that contained misleading
information.

For example, the campaign alleged that Thailand was going to enforce
compulsory licensing "on 30 medicines".

"It's untrue," Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla yesterday said
in response to the allegation.

He insisted that his ministry had announced breaking the patents of
three medicines only. Of them, only the compulsory-licensing process for
the HIV/Aids drug efavirenz, sold by US-based global pharmaceutical
giant Merck under the trade names Sustiva and Stocrin, had already been
completed.

The Public Health Ministry has been in negotiations with the
patent-holders of two other medicines.

"We have never aggressively enforced compulsory licensing. We've always
asked for compassion for the patients," Mongkol said.

Compulsory licensing is permitted under World Trade Organisation rules
in national emergencies or justified non-commercial cases.
Patent-holders can receive some royalties.

Mongkol said he would fly to the US later this month to explain the
rationale behind the compulsory licensing and meet with US drug
companies, senators and the US Trade Representative, with arrangements
to be made by the Foreign Ministry.

The public-health minister also confirmed that Thailand would join 15
other developing countries and the Clinton Foundation in the bulk buying
of drugs, so that they could be bought cheaper.

All of the countries have enforced compulsory licensing.

"The government's compulsory-licensing move wins our full support. This
is a move to manufacture life-saving medicines. Thailand needs to move
on, because this is the hope of countries all over the world," Wirat
Purahong, chairman of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids,
said yesterday.

He believes other countries could lose ground in negotiations with the
US if Thailand backs down.

Wirat yesterday led a group of HIV-positive people in offering moral
support to Mongkol na Songkhla.

Mongkol thanked the supporters with a vow to push ahead with compulsory
licensing. "I will carry on. I will never abandon the patients, and I
definitely will not lose heart," Mongkol said.

The US Embassy in Bangkok, however, insisted the downgrade stemmed from
widespread violations of copyrights on audiovisual products.

--
Mike Palmedo
Research Coordinator
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property
American University, Washington College of Law
4910 Massachutsetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20016
T - 202-274-4442 | F 202-274-0659
mpalmedo@wcl.american.edu