Reuters AlertNet Lite - Thailand fails to win over U.S. on drug patents

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Thailand fails to win over U.S. on drug patents

23 May 2007 04:08:27 GMT
Source: Reuters

BANGKOK, May 23 (Reuters) - Thailand will press ahead with overriding patents on three foreign-made drugs, Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said after failing to win a sympathetic ear from trade officials in Washington.

"We achieved nothing. From now on, the commerce, foreign affairs and public health ministries will go ahead with the CL process," the Nation newspaper quoted Mongkol as saying on a conference call from the U.S. capital.

Mongkol, whose ministry has declared compulsory licences (CL) on two AIDS drugs and a heart disease treatment in a bid to secure lower prices for Thailand's poor, said his meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was "totally negative".

"It's clear he obviously represents the drug companies. There was no sign of friendship left when he started talking," the Bangkok Post quoted Mongkol as saying.

The licences, which world trade rules allow governments to issue to make or buy copycat versions of drugs for public health measures, shocked the pharmaceutical companies who complained they received no prior warning.

Subsequent price talks with the three drug makers -- U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories <ABT.N> and Merck & Co Inc <MRK.N> and Europe's Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> -- have produced no deals so far.

Mongkol led a delegation to Washington after it put Thailand on a "priority watch list", citing a "weakening of respect for patents" which could open the Southeast Asian nation and major U.S. trading partner to retaliatory measures.

Thailand, a former AIDS hotspot, has won praise for reducing infections and expanding drug treatment to 100,000 of the 580,000 Thais living with AIDS.

But the government says it faces budget pressures as more people need treatment through the national health scheme, which covers 80 percent of Thailand's 63 million people.

Thailand has won support from health activists and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose foundation brokers deals with generic drug makers to provide lower-priced drugs for developing nations.

But the drug industry's defenders accuse Thailand's post-coup, military-backed government of stealing American intellectual property and are pressing for trade sanctions against Bangkok.

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Last updated:Wed May 23 04:16:23 2007