[Ip-health] Health Ministry to push for discounts

Sat Mar 8 13:25:17 2008

Health Ministry to push for discounts

Bangkok Post, Saturday March 08, 2008
APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

The Public Health Ministry is in favour of negotiating
with cancer drugmakers for a discount on patented
drugs, deputy permanent secretary Paijit Warachit
said. To pursue the negotiation, the ministry also
wanted to discard a five per cent price gap rule
between original and generic versions of cancer drugs
that would permit the government to buy the generic
version if the original drugs' prices were at least 5%
more expensive than the generic version.

The move to scrap the rule would kill compulsory
licences for a number of generic drugs from India, he
said, adding Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab,
who has opposed CL, has ordered a review of the price
gap rule.

According to Dr Paijit, the five per cent price gap
rule is unrealistic.

He said the pharma firms may agree to offer favourable
prices through negotiations, which has however been
suspended pending a government review on CL policy.

The previous government on Jan 4 announced the CL
policy to bypass patents on four cancer drugs _
Erlotinib, Docetaxel, Imatinib and Letrozole _ because
the patent owners refused to lower prices after 13
rounds of talks with the price-negotiation panel led
by former Food and Drug Administration
secretary-general Siriwat Tiptaradol.

The then health minister Mongkol Na Songkhla later
scrapped the licence on Imatinib after the patent
owner offered free drugs for patients under the
universal healthcare scheme.

The patented version of Docetaxel costs 375 baht per
pill compared with 16 baht for the generic version.
The original version of Letrozole costs 120-230 baht
whereas the generic version is priced at 6.5 baht. The
patented version of Erlotinib costs 2,750 baht per
tablet while its generic version costs only 735 baht.

Dr Siriwat, who has been transferred to an inactive
position, said the CL policy on cancer drugs would
stumble because the government had been lobbied hard
by pharmaceutical firms.

The National Health Security Office (NHSO) last week
released figures claiming the CL policy on cancer
drugs would help save eight billion baht in healthcare
spending over the next five years.

However Winai Sawasdiworn, the NHSO deputy
secretary-general, said such figures were based on
original cancer drug prices prior to negotiations with
the previous government. The ministry has therefore
asked the agency to base its figures on
post-negotiation prices.

An estimated 2.88-3.74 billion baht would be saved by
the CL policy when compared with figures based on
comparing prices of original and generic drugs after
negotiations, he said.

The final study between the NHSO, Cancer Institute and
cancer experts from medical universities and the
Public Health Ministry showed the number of new breast
cancer patients depending on Docetaxel and Letrozole
would rise to 14,421 and 61,786 by the year 2012.

.......................
Compulsory licensing of cancer meds can save Bt4 bn in
5 years
BANGKOK, March 7 (TNA) - Thailand could save almost
Bt4 billion (US$125 mn) as a result of compulsory
licensing enforcement on key cancer drugs between
2008-2012, according to an official study released on
Friday.

The figures will soon be forwarded to Dr. Prat
Boonyawongvirot, Permanent Secretary for Public Health
who will then submit them to Public Health Minister
Chaiya Sasomsap for final decision on the
controversial CL issue.

The key cancer drugs are Docetaxel, used mainly for
the treatment of breast, ovarian, and non-small cell
lung cancer, sold as Taxotere by Sanofi Aventis;
Erlotinib, sold as Tarceva by Roche and used  to treat
non-small cell lung cancer; and Letrozole used to
treat breast cancer, sold as Femara by Novartis.

Dr. Winai Sawasdivorn, National Health Security Office
deputy secretary-general, who heads the working
committee to study the CL policy on four life-saving
cancer drugs, said the figures were the result of
price comparison among the patented drugs, the lowered
prices of patented drugs as well as the imported
version of generic drugs.

The study estimated patients would bear the burden of
high medical costs of the three patented cancer drugs
between Bt3.7-9.3 billion within five years, while the
price of patented drugs after negotiations with giant
drug companies could cost between Bt2.4 billion-4.6
billion over the same period.

The cost of imported versions of generic drugs was
estimated only between Bt321-909 million. With the
imported version of the generic drugs, Dr. Winai said,
the government could save budget for the state coffers
between Bt2-3.7 billion.

Meanwhile, a network of cancer patients, people living
with HIV/AIDS and the Foundation for Consumers, issued
an open letter to the Permanent Secretary for Public
Health urging the government to enforcing the CL
policy on four key cancer drugs without delay, to save
the lives of patients.

"The country could not afford to delay the CL
enforcement with arguments over the patented and
generic drugs," said Nimit Tianudom of AIDS Access
Foundation. (TNA)-E001
......................

USTR: No CL complaint

Bangkok Post, Saturday March 08, 2008
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has
moved to quell rumours that it was on the verge of
filing a complaint with the World Trade Organisation
about Thailand's compulsory licensing of
pharmaceuticals under the Surayud Chulanont
government.

''Speculation about a WTO case is frankly
surprising,'' the USTR said in a statement. ''Any such
consideration would only happen after a thorough
review of the consistency of such measures with WTO
rules and extensive discussion with the Thai
government, neither of which has happened.''

Reports of a WTO case emerged after the Biotechnology
Industry Organisation (BIO) and the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
petitioned the US government, as part of the annual
Section 301 intellectual property rights review, to
designate Thailand a Priority Foreign Country.

The two groups had complained about Thailand for
invoking compulsory licences. BIO alleged that the
compulsory licences went well beyond the letter and
spirit of the WTO's Doha Declaration provisions
relating to health emergencies. PhRMA claimed Thailand
did not meet all thresholds set under international
agreements to issue compulsory licences.

But local and international NGOs have urged the Public
Health Ministry not to back away from implementing CLs
for the three cancer drugs.

They stated that any threat of trade sanctions was not
grounded in legal reality, and that all CLs issued
were done in full compliance with the Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips)
agreement under the WTO.
..............

EU to ask wTO to rule on Thailand's drug licensing

The EU will likely ask the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) to rule on Thailand's imposition of compulsory
licensing on its drug-makers, but the Intellectual
Property (IP) Department is not cowering.

The Nation Published on March 6, 2008

"Thailand should win the case if there's any petition.
The case will also be evidence that Thailand has not
breached any international regulations for our
compulsory licensing," director-general Puangrat
Asavapisit said yesterday.

The EU, pushed particularly by Germany and France,
recently said it would file a complaint against
Thailand for breaking the international agreement on
compulsory licensing.

Puangrat insisted Thailand was committed to following
the WTO's Trade Related Intellectual Property
regulations and had already negotiated prices with
owners of drug patents.

The department is also working hard to convince the US
to upgrade Thailand's trade status.

In a last-ditch effort, it recently sent a report to
the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR)
underscoring Thailand's progress in protecting IP
rights.

Puangrat said the department was closely monitoring
the USTR's consideration of upgrading or downgrading
Thailand's trade status this year.

It expects the USTR not to include the
compulsory-licensing issue in its analysis.

The USTR will announce its annual review of trade
partners' status next month.

"Thailand should be upgraded to the 'Watch List',
because of our success in suppressing IP abuses over
the past year," she said.

Thailand was downgraded last year to the "Priority
Watch List", which is for countries weak in
safeguarding IP.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

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

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