AEGiS-Bangkok Post: Drug Licensing: USTR urges more talks by all parties on CL policy

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Drug Licensing: USTR urges more talks by all parties on CL policy

Bangkok Post - March 19, 2008
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul

The US Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday called for more participation by all parties concerned including drug companies in talks over the issue of compulsory licences for drugs. The call was made in a 30-minute meeting between Barbara Weisel, the assistant USTR for Southeast Asia, and deputy public health permanent secretary Paijit Warachit, who oversees the CL policy.

Dr Paijit quoted Ms Weisel as saying the USTR had called for participation by drug companies, if possible, in any future move to suspend patent protection for expensive medicines.

Ms Weisel did not say anything about downgrading Thailand's trade status to that of "Priority Watch List" for intellectual property violations, he said.

The USTR delegation earlier met Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee. However, the two sides did not discuss the controversy over Thailand's CL policy, said Pansak Winyarat, an adviser to the two ministers.

Former US ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce had previously asked the Surayud Chulanont government for similar talks on the CL issue between the government and associations of drug companies.

Compulsory licensing is permitted under World Trade Organisation rules in national emergencies or justified non-commercial cases. The programme allows Thailand to produce or import generic versions of medicines for local use. Patent-holders can receive some royalties but they complain the scheme violates their intellectual property rights.

Mongkol na Songkhla, the public health minister in the Surayud government, had already enforced the compulsory licences for the HIV/Aids drugs Efavirenz and Kaletra, the anti-clotting agent Clopidogrel, and four cancer drugs - Imatinib, Docetaxel, Erlotinib and Letrozole.

The current public health minister, Chaiya Sasomsab, earlier decided to freeze the CL policy on four cancer drugs due to concern that the policy would affect trade relations with superpower nations. But he later gave up the plan and resumed the CL policy, initiated by Dr Mongkol, in the wake of mounting pressure and attempts to oust him from office by a network of medical professionals, patients and NGO activists.

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