[Ip-health] BIO's Greenwood: Thailand's Patent Fight Will Fail

[Sarah Rimmington]

http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/01/bios-greenwood-thailands-patent-fight-will=
-fail/

Pharmalot
BIO=92s Greenwood: Thailand=92s Patent Fight Will Fail
January 9th, 2008 4:24 pm By Ed Silverman

The BIO exec and former congressmen recently chatted with PharmAsia
News* about various pressing issues of the day. This excerpt touches on
the row in Thailand, which wants to extract lower prices on meds. For
those who may not recall, Thailand is in the process of breaking patents
on several popular drugs (here=92s some background).

PharmAsia News: How can biotech companies protect their intellectual
property rights in Asia when they are up against emerging biosimilars
such as Dr. Reddy=92s biosimilar of rituximab?

Greenwood: Intellectual property rights are under assault in this
country and around the world. In some instances, that is for commercial
reasons, but in other instances it is because either policy makers and
others are understandably feeling a sense of urgency to get access to
products that are available in the developing world and might not be
available elsewhere. But also because they are recognizing the high cost
of health care and intellectual property rights is a bastion to protect
a pricing strategy.=94

=85We need =93to explain that for the purpose of a short-term agenda,
undermining intellectual property rights, you are really undermining the
ability of everyone to be innovative=85The undermining of intellectual
property rights is the equivalent of eating your seed corn. It meets
your short-term objective, but long-term it ends the cycle of regeneration.=
=94

PharmAsia News: Thailand recently issued ultimatums to two pharma
companies that if they didn=92t cut their prices by at least 60 percent,
they would face compulsory licensing. Do you think this is going to be a
trend, and how will biotechs deal with that?

Greenwood: In the long run, Thailand is going to have to understand that
it needs the products of innovative companies more than innovative
companies need the Thai market. The Thai market is small by all
measures, and it is extraordinarily myopic of the Thailand government to
take that approach. There is no history of it being a successful
approach. The Thai government would be far better off working with drug
reimbursement companies, working with non-governmental organizations and
with multilateral organizations to help meet its health care
needs=85Thailand=92s strategy absolutely will not succeed=85

There is a worldwide assault from countries like Brazil that stems from
a world view that somehow big corporations and wealthy nations can
produce goods for the developing world without limit and that the only
way for smaller countries and poorer nations to gain access to those is
to essentially - to put it in the bluntest form - steal them. I use the
seed corn metaphor. But another metaphor is that it is like draining the
reservoir to meet your water needs. It might last for a season, but then
the source of the good is gone.=94


Tags:BIO, Compulsory Licensing, Intellectual Property, Jim Greenwood,
Patents, Thailand


2 Comments

1.January 9th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Lisa Van S
Ed,
I take it that Greenwood prefers stories like this, than the Headlines
he made in July of 2004.

2.January 9th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Bob Freeman
Typical polemics coming from an industry spinmeister. Cold hard reality
is that the emerging markets of Asia and Latin/South America are the
only areas for exponential pharma growth. The industry had better learn
to deal effectively with these governments and NGOs and drop the posturing.


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