Bangkok Post - June 19, 2007
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul

Jon Ungpakorn proposed the idea during a seminar on compulsory licensing at Thammasat University's economics faculty. He said it would help developing countries invent important generic drugs without having to face restrictions placed by patent holders in rich nations.

"As long as the issue of drug prices comes before the life and death of individuals, this kind of system will be initiated sooner or later as the unjust patent system happens the world over," he said. The funding for public-oriented research and development on drugs could be based on gross domestic product per capita, he added.

The HIV/Aids epidemic is an example which highlights the problem of drug access, since many young adults in low and middle income countries have the virus but price barriers deprive them of access to treatment.

In Thailand, for example, Aids deaths had surged from 8,000 in 1999 to 1,600 in 2006 after the country successfully introduced the locally-produced anti-retroviral treatment GPO-Vir and provided HIV-positive people with free treatment via the universal healthcare scheme, Mr Jon said.

The Magsaysay award-winner also believes the issuance of compulsory licensing in developing countries would become "normal" in the near future since the patent system has restricted access to medicines for the majority of the world's population.

"Developing nations should work together to seek ways to cope with increasing restrictions on essential drugs and other medical instruments necessary to treat other neglected ailments such as malaria and TB, which have been on the rise in the past few years," he said.

The Thai government issued compulsory licensing under the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects on Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) to bypass patents on the anti-Aids and heart drugs Efavirenz, Kaletra and Plavix last November and January.

The move upset big pharmaceutical firms holding the patents for those drugs. Negotiations on cheaper prices are still underway between the Public Health Ministry and the pharmaceutical firms.

Mr Jon said the Network of People Living With HIV/Aids was keeping an eye on the talks between the state and the private sector and would push the present government to make the final decision on whether it will import drugs from generic makers in India or continue to buy original drugs next month, since the stockpiles of these drugs would run out in August.

However, the state policy on compulsory licensing has sparked concerns in the business sector over the possible withdrawal of hundreds of Thai export products from the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) list after the US reviews the list on July 1.

But Suthichai Iamcharoenying, chairman of the Social Venture Network Asia (Thailand), representing a group of private entrepreneurs, believed an estimated five billion baht GSP tax waiver was not as important as the lives of more than 6,000 HIV-positive people which could be saved due to the state policy on free Aids treatment and compulsory licensing.

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