[Ip-health] The Nation (Bangkok): US on verge of legal action, Thai officials say they are ready if Washington takes case to the WTO

[Sarah Rimmington]

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/02/21/headlines/headlines_30066017.php

US on verge of legal action
Thai officials say they are ready if Washington takes case to the WTO
Published on February 21, 2008
Petchanet Pratruangkrai, Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation (Bangkok)


The United States is likely to petition the World Trade Orga-nisation
(WTO) over Thailand's compulsory licensing of drugs, saying it was not
discussed with the patent holders, a senior Commerce Ministry source  says.

But Thai officials say the negotiations did take place with the patent
owners before compulsory licensing was an-nounced.

No agreements had been reached as the manufacturers only offered to
lower their prices gradually.  One company said it could only decrease
the cost of its tablets by Bt1.

The government was left with no choice but to enforce compulsory
licensing to enable the poor to have access to the highest quality
medicines.

The Commerce Ministry source said senior US officials had warned of
steps to petition the WTO, and Bangkok was now closely monitoring any
moves by Washington. The Public Health Ministry, he said, was well
prepared to give a clear explanation to the WTO if the US decided to
file a case.

"Thailand insists on following the WTO's commitments about compulsory
licensing of drug patents registered in the King-dom," said the source,
adding the country would likely remain on the US Trade Representative's
(USTR) "Priority Watch List" instead of being downgraded "Priority
Foreign Country" status.

Officials had feared the USTR would downgrade the Kingdom for being weak
on intellectual property violations.

Foreign Trade Department deputy director-general Un-chana
Withayathamthat said if Thailand was no longer entitled to the
Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for exports to the US, 20 per
cent or US$4 billion (Bt130 billion) of the country's sales to that key
market would face higher tariffs. GSP benefits would be at risk if the
USTR were to take a tougher stance on the country's trade status.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Health, Foreign and Commerce ministers was
scheduled for next week to finalise a decision on whether to announce
more compulsory licensing.

Health Ministry spokesman Dr Suphan Sridhrama said if Washington were to
take legal action over compulsory licensing and claim negotiations were
not held, the ministry would produce evidence to prove it had issued 13
invitations to talks to the drug makers since October.

Information Department deputy director-general Thani Thongphakdi said
yesterday Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Virasakdi Futrakul and
the Health Ministry had already given the Commerce Ministry detailed
information contained in a report from Thailand's ambassador to the US
last week.

"The United States is closely monitoring how the Samak government will
handle the compulsory licensing issue. The US clearly doesn't want
Thailand to enforce compulsory licences because of the damage to the US
pharmaceutical industry," Thani said.

According to a source, the ambassador's report explains the position of
the US government, the USTR and US pharmaceutical companies on
compulsory licensing.

"The Foreign Ministry tried to persuade the relevant [US] authorities to
take into account the relationship between Thailand and the US. It also
presented the pros and cons of compulsory licensing. But ultimately it
is government policy that will have the final say," the source added.

Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsap has denied reports that he had already
decided what to do about the recent enforcement of compulsory licensing
for cancer drugs.

Chaiya said he could not make a decision as he had not yet received a
report from the ministry's permanent secretary, Dr Prat Boonyawongviroj,
about the outcome of a meeting between the permanent secretaries of the
Health, Commerce and Foreign ministries last week.

The officials met to seek a solution and collect more information about
the impact of the revision of the recent enforcement of compulsory
licensing.

Chaiya said the Health Ministry had set up a committee to ascertain the
cost of treatment per year and the exact number of patients suffering
from lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer and leukaemia, as these
patients needed four cancer drugs for treatment - imatinib, docetaxek,
erlotinib and letrozole.

The study will be concluded next week and submitted to a meeting of the
Commerce and Foreign ministers. The study will be crucial to any
decision on patient benefits and access to life-saving drugs.

Meanwhile, law professors and legal experts from the US, Australia,
Canada, Argentina and South Africa have signed a petition to Prime
Minister Samak Sundaravej and Chaiya urging them to retain the
compulsory licensing for cancer drugs.

The petition said they agreed the licensing was lawful not only under
Thai law but also under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (Trips).

--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: (202) 387-8030
Cell: (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/