[Ip-health] Thailand plans to issue 4 cancer drug compulsory licenses

[robert weissman]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/25Jan2008_news15.php

January 25, 2008
Bangkok Post

Government approves four cancer drugs

Compulsory licensing a must, says Mongkol

APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

The outgoing military-appointed government will go ahead with the
implementation of compulsory licensing (CL) for four cancer drugs,
Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said yesterday. The minister
did not disclose the names of the drugs listed for compulsory licensing,
simply saying the decision had been made on Jan 4 following a proposal
submitted by the sub-panel chaired by Government Pharmaceutical
Organisation (GPO) board chairman Vichai Chokewiwat.

The Vichai panel has advised the public health minister to issue
compulsory licences for the breast cancer drug Letrozole and the
leukaemia drug Imatinib, both produced by Novartis, the breast and lung
cancer drug Docetaxel, produced by Sanofi-Aventis, and lung cancer drug
Erlotinib, made by Roche.

The objective is to seek cheaper generic forms of the drugs for treating
patients under the universal healthcare scheme, thereby saving the
government huge sums of money.

Dr Mongkol said he had thoroughly considered the pros and cons of
applying CL to such cancer drugs.

''We would not do it if it's not necessary. But we don't have time for
more negotiation. We did the best we can,'' he said, adding that health
officials had met patent owners for at least 13 rounds of negotiations
over prices without making any significant progress.

The minister said he was certain that generic versions of cancer drugs
would be of high quality and that patients under the universal
healthcare scheme would receive the best benefits from the state policy
on CL.

Letters stating the necessity to bypass patents of cancer drugs would be
sent to all sectors involved _ the GPO, the Department of Intellectual
Property and pharmaceutical companies owning the patents to the drugs _
by next week as he would soon finish his term, he said.

''I have faced pressure from several sides by making such a decision,
but I am happy that poor patients will not go bankrupt due to the cost
of cancer treatment,'' he said.

Cancer ranks as the number one cause of death in Thailand. The male
population suffers mostly from lung cancer, whereas breast cancer is the
major cause of death among women.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis has threatened legal
action against an India-based generic drug maker chosen to supply
Thailand with a generic version of the heart drug Plavix.

Withit Artavatkun, managing director of the GPO board, said the threat
was the latest in a series of attempts by the patent owner of Plavix to
interrupt the country's CL policy.

Plavix, a blood thinner, is used to treat coronary artery, peripheral
vascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

''Sanofi-Aventis' threat will not affect the procurement agreement as
the first batch of two million heart drug tablets will be arriving by
next week,'' said Dr Withit.

The India-based Zydus Cadila firm was chosen ahead of the other
potential supplier Emcure Pharmaceuticals, also based in India, because
Emcure had not yet provided bioequivalent documents essential for a
registration grant from the Food and Drug Administration.

However, Dr Withit believed a threat from the patent owner was one of
the main reasons that delayed Emcure's decision to supply a copycat
version of the heart drug to Thailand.

The company last year also sent a letter to Emcure, claiming that
selling generic versions of the medicine to Thailand was illegal as the
country had not made public its decision to override the patent.
However, the GPO managing director said the ministry had officially
declared its policy on the compulsory licensing of Plavix for over a year.