Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - November 16, 2004
Onnucha Hutasingh
With the next round of talks set for Dec 13-17, worries have grown among Aids activists and patients over a push by the US for a stricter protection of its intellectual property rights in any Thai-US pact.
They aired their concerns during an informal round of talks organised by the Aids Access Foundation.
Washington wants data on US drugs and other high-technology products being imported into the country to be protected for a longer period than is allowed under World Trade Organisation rules.
The US position could mean Thailand may have to rely on expensive imported anti-retroviral pills for longer than the global agreement requires.
But Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, deputy director-general of the Intellectual Property Department, said Thailand had made its position clear that it would stick to the WTO framework as a basis for negotiations.
"Our position is clear, we will not sacrifice human health for trade benefits," she said.
No agreement should be expected to come out of next month's meeting in Hawaii with the US, because any proposals put forward by the US would have to first be discussed by the appropriate agencies and organisations before any deals were signed.
The WTO urged at its Doha meeting that patents be allowed to remain under protection for 20 years and member countries be given access to cheap medicines. Currently, the global trade watchdog allows countries to licence firms other than the patent holder to produce medicines to fight a national health crisis.
Suchart Chongprasert, an official at the Food and Drug Administration and one of the negotiators, said the two countries had to find a balance in talks between commercial interests and access to medicines.
"Anything that affects access should not be compromised," he said.
Achara Eksaengsri, a researcher at the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, a state enterprise under the Public Health Ministry, said the US intention was clear "and all it was trying to do was to use the agreements to control the drug market for the benefit of its own pharmaceutical manufacturers".
Sureerat Treemarka, a member of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids, strongly opposed the five-year extension period on patent protection and strict control of data on medicines, especially those needed to fight serious diseases.
The monopoly of US drug firms would force the poor in developing countries to suffer all the more, she said.
Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said the ministry would promote this year's World Aids Day on Dec 1 by focussing on preventing and tackling Aids problems among women and girls.
They were the hardest-hit group since up to 70,000 of the 570,000 Aids patients in the country today were aged between 15-24, of which 60% were women, she said.
The major factors behind the increase in HIV infection among Thai youth were risky sexual behaviour, a lowering of age of the first sexual experience and a decline in the use of condoms.
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