[Ip-health] Scandasia: Swedish Politician Defends Thailand in Medicine Licensing Debate

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.scandasia.com/viewNews.php?coun_code=th&news_id=3660

Swedish Politician Defends Thailand in Medicine Licensing Debate

By Candy Chabada

Carl Schlyter, Swedish member of the European Parliament, has defended
Thailand's right to use compulsory licensing on several patented
medicines to ensure that they are made available at more affordable
prices than they would otherwise be.

Carl Schlyter's remarks comes as Peter Mandelson, the European
commissioner for trade, has critiziced Thailand for enforcing the
decision to produce cheap generic drugs based on the more expensive,
patented original medicines for the treatment of people suffering from
Aids and certain heart diseases.

"The Commission fails to understand the purpose of the compulsory
licensing system," Carl Schlyter says, adding that the executive
"should be happy" that Thailand has been making use of the
flexibilities applying to intellectual property rules.

Peter Mandelson has called on Thailand to revise its efforts to provide
cheap medicines to people with AIDS over concerns that the country
could be undermining global rules on intellectual property.

Mandelson has expressed concern that Bangkok "may be taking a new
approach to access to medicines" by stating that if drug companies wish
to do business in Thailand, they should offer their drugs for no more
than 5 percent above the cost of generic versions of the products in
question.

  "This approach would be detrimental to the patent system and so to
innovation and the development of new medicines," Peter Mandelson said.
"It risks forcing more drug companies to abandon their patents and
could lead to the isolation of Thailand from the global biotechnology
investment community."

  Carl Schlyter argued that the European Commissioner has been trying to
ensure that compulsory licenses are only used by countries classified
as 'least developed' by the United Nations, rather than by any poor and
middle-income country facing serious health problems. Thailand has an
estimated 600,000 people who are HIV positive and has recorded some
300,000 deaths from AIDS.

The World Bank has predicted that the Thai government's resort to
compulsory licenses would reduce the cost of second-line drugs by 90
percent, saving the country 3.2 billion dollars over 20 years.

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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