Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - May 16, 2007
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
"It's essential, as cancer ranks among the top five causes of death for Thais, with accidents, HIV/Aids, heart diseases and elderly people's diseases," he said in a telephone interview from Geneva. Previous reports about a move to issue compulsory licences for cancer drugs could not be confirmed until Dr Mongkol spoke yesterday.
The National Health Security Office (NHSO) is currently studying the pros and cons of issuing licences for a group of cancer drugs which are still under patent in Thailand.
In the 2006 fiscal year, the government spent more than 1.2 billion baht on about 50,000 cancer patients receiving treatment through the universal healthcare scheme run by the NHSO.
Dr Mongkol is in Geneva to attend a World Health Organisation assembly before going to Washington next Monday and Tuesday to explain the government's decision to bypass patents on Aids drugs produced by an American company.
He used his European visit to meet for 30 minutes with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt.
Top of their agenda was Thailand's issuing compulsory licences to import or produce cheaper generic versions of the Aids drugs Efavirenz and Kaletra and the heart disease drug Plavix.
Kaletra is made by US-based Abbot Laboratories.
Dr Mongkol claimed Mr Leavitt understood the transparency of Thailand's announcement and showed sympathy for the effort to bypass patents on costly drugs to increase access for the poor.
Thailand has been attacked by US and European drug firms since the announcement of the policy.
Dr Mongkol and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont have defended the Thai position, insisting the country was not breaking World Trade Organisation rules on the issue.
The US Trade Representative earlier this month placed Thailand on the Priority Watch List for the first time since 1992, citing intellectual rights violations. The government's decision to issue compulsory licences for drugs was one of the issues leading to the downgrading of the country's status.
The US secretary of health and human services urged Thailand to "try harder" to negotiate with drug companies on the issue of prices.
But Dr Mongkol insisted that he would not revoke the compulsory licences for the three costly drugs unless the drug companies cut prices to below the generic versions.
"Let me do my job so that I can help the poor survive deadly diseases like others," he said. Dr Mongkol also said he would make the final decision on whether the government will buy the first batch of the second-line Aids drug Aluvia from Abbott or the Indian generic drug maker Matrix Laboratories, via the Clinton Foundation.
Aluvia is a heat-stable form of Kaletra.
Meanwhile, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), manufacturer of the local anti-Aids drug GPO-VIR, yesterday filed a libel charge against USA for Innovation at Bang Rak police station.
GPO board chairman Vichai Chokewiwat said the libel charge was filed on the grounds that the US firm's printed advertisements were damaging to the GPO and its products. The adverts had shattered the confidence of doctors and patients subscribing to GPO's medicines, he added.
The full-page advertisements in English claimed GPO-VIR was a copy of an HIV treatment, claiming a study by Mahidol University showed a high resistance rate of 39.6-58% among users.
The GPO says the resistance rate is much lower, about 20%.
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