PHA-Exchange> THAILAND ISSUES COMPULSORY LICENCE FOR PATENTED AIDS DRUG

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

from Bala <bala at haiap.org>:

> >
> > http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/index.htm
> >
> > BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 10, Number 42 13 December 2006
> >
> > THAILAND ISSUES COMPULSORY LICENCE FOR PATENTED AIDS DRUG
> >
> > Thailand's military-backed government on 29 November issued a
> > compulsory licence for Merck's HIV/AIDS drug efavirenz, in an attempt
> > to cut growing healthcare costs by encouraging the production and
> > import of generic versions of the patented medicine.
> >
> > The Thai ministry of public health authorised the Government
> > Pharmaceutical Organisation to manufacture generic versions of the drug
> > until 2011, and to import generics from India until domestic production
> > comes on line. It specified that the medicines were to be used for the
> > country's widely-praised national HIV/AIDS treatment programme. Bangkok
> > stressed that the decision was in accordance with WTO rules on access
> > to medicine, specifically citing the 2001 Doha Declaration on the TRIPS
> > Agreement and Public Health, which permits compulsory licensing for
> > "emergency cases and public uses."
> >
> > While other developing countries such as Zambia and Indonesia have
> > issued compulsory licences for HIV/AIDS drugs in the past, the Thai
> > move is significant for its longer duration and the fact that it opens
> > the door to competitive imports of generics from India. Both steps will
> > mean increased downward pressure on drug prices, according to public
> > health advocates, who praised the government's decision.
> >
> > US-based global pharmaceutical giant Merck, which owns the patent on
> > efavirenz and markets it under the name Stocrin, was less enthusiastic.
> > The company's local subsidiary, MSD Thailand, complained in a statement
> > that the Thai government did not approach it to discuss the compulsory
> > licence decision prior to the announcement itself. 
> >
> > While Merck's Stocrin treatment
> > currently costs 1,500 bahts or USD 41 a month in Thailand, Indian
> > generic efavirenz would cost roughly half as much, or 800 bahts (USD
> > 22). The compulsory licence would thus help rein in the ballooning cost
> > of providing efavirenz to patients through the country's universal
> > HIV/AIDS treatment scheme. According to Médecins sans Frontières, at
> > least 12,000 HIV/AIDS patients in Thailand currently require the drug
> > due to an intolerance to one of the components in the generic triple
> > drug cocktail provided by the government. That number is expected to
> > rise sharply as patients now treated with generics already off-patent
> > will start requiring second-line medicines such as efavirenz to
> > survive.
> >
> > As per the terms of the licence, it will be limited to the provision of
> > efavirenz to no more than 200,000 people a year, and the Government
> > Pharmaceutical Organisation will pay Merck a royalty fee of 0.5 percent
> > of the total sale value of the imported or locally-produced generic.
> >
> > Following Bangkok's announcement, Merck said that it might seek to
> > negotiate with the Thai government to agree on a 'voluntary licence'
> > for the generic production of efavirenz, or offer it a lower price for
> > drug.
> > Médecins sans Frontières, on the other hand, urged Bangkok to go
> > further. "Thailand is demonstrating that the lives of patients have to
> > come before the patents of drug companies, and this policy needs to be
> > expanded to essential drugs that are expensive and in short supply,
> > such as the AIDS drug lopinavir/ritonavir, which currently costs over
> > 7,000 baht a month (USD 194) and is far too expensive for Thailand,"


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