[Ip-health] CL trade-off feared at talks

[Kannikar KIJTIWATCHAKUL]

CL trade-off feared at talks
APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

Bangkok Post, Friday June 06, 2008

Next week's trade mission to the United States is
raising worries over the future of compulsory
licensing (CL) of life-saving medicines.


The ''action plan'' which the negotiating team led by
commerce permanent secretary Siriphol Yodmuangcharoen
intends to put to Washington is likely to involve the
CL policy to bypass patents on essential drugs, Nimit
Tienudom, director of the Aids Access Foundation, said
yesterday.


The trip is scheduled for next Tuesday.


''This is very suspicious,'' Mr Nimit said. ''We don't
know whether the government will eventually trade off
the compulsory licensing policy for upgrading of
Thailand from the US Priority Watch List to a better
trade status.''


Health activists and pharmaceutical academics would
take action if negotiations affect the public's
interests and its access to affordable medicines.


Mr Nimit was responding to the chief of the
Intellectual Property Rights Department, Puangrat
Asavapisit, who said the government would outline an
''action plan'' to the US Trade Representative (USTR)
focusing on a serious crackdown on intellectual
property violations.


Thailand is one of nine countries on Washington's
watch list because of concerns over intellectual
property rights problems. The compulsory licensing of
Aids and heart drugs by the previous government is
cited as possible grounds for putting Thailand in the
top category of offenders, even though it was
legitimately done.


Mr Nimit said Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's swift
appointment of a committee to review the compulsory
licensing of essential drugs last month followed a
request from the USTR.


The review committee includes representatives of the
Commerce, Foreign and Finance ministries,
pharmaceutical companies and patients.


The Department of Intellectual Property Rights had
already revised the Patents Act, including an
alteration to Article 7 to allow ''evergreening
patents'' on plants and animals, Mr Nimit said.


Evergreening allows the patent holder to artificially
extend a market monopoly by declaring new chemical
substances, very often only a minor modification.


''These moves are part of the US proposal on the
protection of intellectual property rights, which are
very similar to the still-to-be concluded Thai-US free
trade agreement,'' Mr Nimit said.


''Whatever the government is doing it should be more
concerned about problems which affect 66 million
Thais, than thinking only about our trade status,'' he
added.




Kannikar KIJTIWATCHAKUL (Kar)
Access to Essential Medicine Campaigner
MSF Belgium - Thailand Mission,
522 Mooban Nakorn Thai 14,
Ladphrao Soi 101/1,
Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240
Tel (+66) 2370 3087
Fax (+66) 2731 1432
Mobile (+66) 85-070-8954