[Ip-health] Thailand-US FTA: The unstated reason for the watch list

[Ira Glazer]

http://bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=3D8265&var_recherche=3Dthaila=
nd

/The US decision to put Thailand on its "priority watch list" this month
was prompted by failed talks on a free trade agreement, as well as the
patent-busting of US-made pharmaceuticals, a former US trade official
said Friday./

Bangkok Post

FTA: The unstated reason for the watch list

By Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa) in Bangkok

11 May 2007

The US decision to put Thailand on its "priority watch list" this month
was prompted by failed talks on a free trade agreement, as well as the
patent-busting of US-made pharmaceuticals, a former US trade official
said Friday.

"In recent years there was a growing concern that disrespect for
intellectual property was proliferating in Thailand, but I believe the
decision was made not to move it to priority watch list previously
because there was a feeling that Thailand and the United States would be
entering a free trade agreement," said Ashley Wills, a former Assistant
United States Trade Representative (USTR).

Thai-US FTA talks fell apart last year, partly over a failure to agree
on sensitive clauses concerning intellectual property rights protection
in Thailand.

HIV/Aids activists were opposed to the FTA because they feared it would
limit access to generic anti-viral drugs.

The question of access to life-saving drugs put Thailand on the USTR=92s
"priority watch list" for intellectual property rights violations on May 1.

The main reason sited for the change, which could open the kingdom up to
retaliatory trade measures such as loss of generalised system of
preferences (GSP) privileges, was Thailand=92s decision to award
compulsory licensing last November on the anti-HIV/Aids medication
Efavirenz produced by the US=92s Merck Sharp & Dohme and in January on
Kaletra, an anti-HIV/Aids drug made by US firm Abbott Laboratories.

"The FTA talks have been suspended and now Thailand has issued
compulsory licensing on a product that is very important to the US
economy," said Wills, who is now a international business advisor for
Washington-based law firm WilmerHale.

Wills arrived in Thailand on Tuesday on a mission to seek a middle
ground between the US pharmaceutical giants and Thailand to resolve the
growing debate over the use of compulsory licensing to get drug
companies to reduce their prices in developing countries for
life-endangering diseases.

"I think the Thai government should express its strong support for
protecting intellectual property and let it be known that issuing
compulsory licensing in not going to become a trend," said Wills.

In fact, it has already become a trend.

Brazil on Friday announced its decision to award compulsory licensing on
Efavirenz after Merck Sharp refused to lower the local price to the
level the drug is sold for in Thailand.

Merck dropped its price on Efavirenz in Thailand shortly after the
government=92s compulsory licensing was announced on the drug last November=
.

"Was it a smart thing for Thailand to do? What precedent does it set?"
asked Wills.

For those struggling to provide affordable medicines for HIV/Aids
sufferers in Thailand, the reaction has been overwhelmingly favourable.