[Ip-health] KEI Letter to Thailand Prime Minister and Health Minister, regarding compulsory licensing decisions

[James Love]

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=168

KEI Letter to Thailand Prime Minister and Health Minister, regarding
compulsory licensing decisions


His Excellency
Mr. Samak Sundaravej
Prime Minister
Government House
Nakornpratom Rd.
Dusit, Bangkok
Thailand 10300

His Excellency
Mr. Chaiya Sasomsap
Minister of Public Health
Tiwanont Rd.
Talad Kwan District
Nontaburi Province 11000
Thailand

March 4, 2008

Re: Thailand Compulsory Licenses and public health

Dear Prime Minister Sundaravej and Minister of Public Health Chaiya
Sasomsap:

We are writing to address an issue of the utmost importance.
Specifically, we urge the Thailand government to support its earlier
decision to use TRIPS flexibilities and issue compulsory licenses on
medicine patents.

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) is a not-for-profit organization
based in Washington, DC and with offices in Geneva and London, with
extensive experience in providing technical assistance to governments
and international organizations in the promotion of public health and
advocating for the protection of patient interests.

Every sovereign government that grants patents on inventions also
provides mechanisms for compulsory licenses.  While the grounds for
issuing a compulsory license differs from country to country, there is
widespread agreement that such licenses are consistent with
international law, particularly in, but not limited to, cases involving
public health.

We are attaching a report on the use of compulsory licenses by other
countries.  It not only reports on compulsory licenses on medicines in
developing countries, but also on the granting of compulsory licenses in
high income countries, such as three recent compulsory licenses on
medicines issued in Italy, and dozens of compulsory licenses issued in
other fields of technology, such as software, digital television
receivers, and automatic transmissions.

The United States will soon have a new president.  All three of the
leading candidates, Senators McCain, Obama and Clinton, are critics of
the pharmaceutical industry.  All three candidates care about access to
medicine, and all three candidates are looking to repair and enhance the
standing of the United States in the world community.  Thailand should
not assume that it will suffer if it stands by its earlier decision to
issue compulsory licenses.

On the other hand, if Thailand now backs down and cancels the compulsory
licenses, it will be perceived as an acknowledgment that Thailand did
something wrong earlier.  It will make it much more difficult to issue
compulsory licenses in the future, and it will undermine the
relationship between Thailand and suppliers of generic medicines.  If
Thailand reverses its position, other developing countries will be
deterred from using compulsory licenses, and Thailand will be seen as
aligning itself with large pharmaceutical companies, against the
interests of the poor.

Members of the U.S. Congress are monitoring the USTR and the Department
of State to ensure that the US government respects the 2001 Doha
Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health, and does not bully Thailand on
this issue.  Many public health and development organizations, including
KEI, are supportive of the use of compulsory licenses to increase access
to medicines in developing countries.   Thailand has much to gain by
supporting it's earlier decision, and very much to lose by repudiating
that decision.


Sincerely,


James Love
Knowledge Ecology International

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_____________________________
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
http://www.keionline.org, mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040, Geneva mobile +41.76.413.6584