PHA-Exchange> WHO DG shocking views on CL criticised by NGOs

[Claudio]

From: "martin khor" <mkkp at pd.jaring.my>
[A comment from one of our PHM members who was there]

A controversy has emerged in the last few days on statements made by
the new WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan on the compulsory
licenses issued by the Thai government for the production of three patented
drugs.

Dr Chan was in Bangok to attend the Prince Mahidol Award Conference
2007 held on 1-2 February 2007.  We were witness to quite a shocking
series of events linked to the .

It started at the opening session on 1 February when she spoke on neglected
diseases and she praised the multinational drug companies, as well as
concluding that the solution to the neglected diseases problem was "drug
donation", i.e. that the industry should donate drugs.

On 2 February, the Bangkok Post carried the title on one of its articles:
"WHO raps compulsory license plan."   The DG had waded into one of the
most publicised issues in Thailand today:  The Thai government has
recently issued three compulsory licenses for 2 AIDs drugs and 1 heart drug.
This had been warmly welcomed by patients' groups and health NGOs,
while criticised by the multinational drug industry as well as the US and
Swiss governments.

The WHO DG apparently gave warnings to Thailand during a visit to the
Office of Health Security, an agency that is responsible for ensuring
universal health care, and which played an important role in the
compulsory licensing.

On 2 February the Thai NGOs organised a press conference during which five
experts and NGOs spoke, each one being very critical of the WHO DG position.
Those who spoke were Carlos Correa (professor in University of Buenos Aires
and expert on patent law and medicine), Ellen of MSF, James Love (CP Tech),
Nimit Tienudom (the president of Aids Access Foundation of Thailand) and
Martin Khor (TWN).

Indeed, the Thai NGOs and organisations representing patients' rights, as
well as many NGOs, experts and individuals from outside Thailand, were all
outraged at what had transpired, and the criticisms against the recent
actions of
the WHO leadership were also voiced inside the conference.

The four additional documents on this as below can be ordered from 
twn at igc.apc.org:
(1) a report by IPS press agency on the NGO criticism on WHO's DG and
recent actions by WHO leadership
(2) a report in Bangkok Post of 3 Feb on the press conference held by Thai
NGOs, at which the views of the DG on compulsory license were contradicted.
(3) AIDS Healthcare Foundation's criticism of the WHO DG's statements
(4) Bangkok Post article of 2 February on "WHO raps compulsory
license plan"