Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - February 15, 2007
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
Department chief Puangrat Asavapisit told Aids activists led by the Aids Access Foundation, Doctors without Borders and non-government organisations that the agency had not sought advice from the Council of State, but the department was considering legal arguments raised by pharmaceutical firms.
Drug manufacturers have questioned Thailand's decision, asking whether it flouted drug patents.
The department would mediate if the Public Health Ministry and multinational drug companies could not settle the issue, he said.
The Public Health Ministry said it would impose compulsory licences for the import and production of generic versions of anti-retroviral Aids drug Efavirenz, and Kaletra, and Plavix, which are heart disease drugs.
Nimit Tienudom, director of the Aids Access Foundation, said activists opposed any move to ask the Council of State, the state's legal arm, whether the government could issue patent-overriding licences for generic versions of heart and HIV/Aids pills. They met the department chief yesterday to pass on the message.
"Thailand has been praised the world over for taking the bold step of issuing compulsory licences for expanding public access to drugs. Any drug companies feeling that their intellectual property rights are violated should take a case to the Administrative Court," he said.
Merck & Co, patent holder of Aids drug Efavirenz, last month asked the Commerce Ministry, which oversees the department, to start talks between the company and the Public Health Ministry over the ministry's plan.
Mr Nimit said the Intellectual Property Department should not be doing the drug firms' bidding, by pushing for a legal opinion. Instead, it should try to settle on an acceptable royalty fee which the state must pay the patented drug holder when compulsory licensing is imposed.
Under that regime, the drug patent owner is eligible to receive a royalty fee of up to 5% of the market value of its product.
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