Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - April 21, 2001
After charging that South Africa's Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act 90 of 1997 was in violation of international law, the drug companies conceded that the country was entitled to "enact national laws or regulations... or adopt measures necessary to protect public health and broaden access to medicines". The South African government, for its part, agreed to consult the drug industry on the law allowing for parallel imports of patented drugs and the generic substitution of essential medicines.
The reactions varied. Oxfam said the case should never have arisen in the first place but saw the "climbdown" by drug companies as a triumph for the global campaign to make drugs more affordable as well as for the people of South Africa.
GlaxoSmithKline, the biggest supplier of HIV-Aids drugs, said both the South African government and the pharmaceutical industry were winners.
Mike Moore, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, said the settlement showed that WTO agreements like Trips (or Trade- Related Intellectual Property Rights), "contain the necessary flexibility to accommodate the health needs of developing countries and can be used as a basis for resolving difficult issues concerning access to essential drugs".
Thai non-governmental organisations had supported Pretoria's stand in the battle. It is now up to the Thaksin government to take heart from Pretoria's triumph to promote local production of effective Aids drugs, among other things by responding to NGOs' call to adopt a legal approach known as compulsory licensing.
The advocates say Trips allows some freedom for countries facing certain conditions, such as a high prevalence of HIV/Aids, to issue compulsory licences for the local manufacture of drugs deemed necessary at cheaper prices without the agreement of patent holders.
Government reluctance to comply with the NGOs' call apparently stems from fears that powerful pharmaceutical lobbies in the United States might persuade Washington to retaliate in other trade sectors as it did with Section 301 in an intellectual property row several years ago.
Thailand already produces some of the vital HIV/Aids drugs, including AZT and DDI, some with raw materials imported from India.
With the country's million-strong Aids-infected population increasing to the tune of 26,000 a year, and sufferers largely unable to afford expensive foreign drugs, Thailand must find a way of making cheaper drugs available locally. Promoting local production of drugs is clearly better than depending on foreign drugs, which are not cheap even at discount rates. Under a project announced in February, the government is to pay 240 million baht for treating 1,500 people, or less than 1% of the total affected population, with drugs offered at discount rates of 40-50%. Moreover, sceptics remain yet to be convinced that the drugs in the scheme are in proper working order.
Thailand is acclaimed for being the first in Asia to introduce an HIV/Aids prevention and suppression programme under the leadership of former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun 10 years ago. Becoming a significant producer of effective drugs, including those based on local herbal plants, would be a sound follow-up.
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