Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - August 17, 2006
It could have forced the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation to stop producing a generic version, which is a lot cheaper.
Combid, which combines Stavudine and Lamivudine together, is part of a drug cocktail required as a complete treatment for HIV/Aids patients.
The source said the firm's lawyer wrote to the Department of Intellectual Property on Aug 8 withdrawing its application, one day after about 500 people protested outside Glaxo's Bangkok office.
The source understood that Glaxo in June ordered its representatives to withdraw its applications in Thailand and India.
The company has patents for Combid in the US and Europe, and had been seeking a patent in Thailand since 1997.
In February, representatives of the Network of People Living with HIV/Aids met Commerce permanent secretary Karun Kittisataporn and asked the ministry to reject the Glaxo's application. They argued that Combid was not a new drug, just a combination of drugs.
The group said Glaxo was trying to exploit the intellectual property law to make itself a sole distributor of the anti-retroviral drug in Thailand. This would allow the company to charge 8,300 baht per 60 tablets, making the medicine beyond the financial reach of many patients.
The local generic cocktail, GPO-Vir, costs only 1,500 baht and the GPO has distributed it free of charge to about 50,000 Hiv patients. The drug consists of Stavudine, Lamivudine, and Nevirapine.
The Department of Intellectual Property's director for patents, Seksan Boonsuwan, said earlier that if Glaxo was granted a patent over Combid, the GPO would have to stop production. That would have a big impact on people with HIV/Aids.
Network for People Living with HIV/Aids chairman Wirat Purahong said yesterday the Glaxo case reflected a flaw in the process of granting patents in Thailand. The DIP had seemed to push ahead the company's unjustifiable request.
"This problem will be an aggravation when the Thailand-US free trade agreement takes effect," Mr Wirat said.
The US wanted Thailand to toughen its law on intellectual property, which would give protection to key drugs.
Mr Wirat claimed the DIP was also amending the Patent Act to allow people to oppose a patent request only after a patent was granted. "This would allow the patent granting process to go ahead without careful consideration," he said.
Thailand global role model
The World Bank has urged developing countries with few resources to fight Aids, to take their lead from Thailand's prevention programmes of recent years.
Thailand has more than halved the number of new HIV infections in the past decade and has won praise for its National Access to Anti-Retroviral Programme for People Living with HIV/Aids. Started last October, it provides anti-retroviral drug treatment for nearly 80,000 people.
The bank said the seeds were planted about a decade earlier when Thailand made Aids prevention a top priority and introduced initiatives such as the 100% Condom Programme, which promoted usage among sex workers.
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