Final talks to be held with drug companies
Negotiations between the Public Health Ministry and pharmaceutical companies holding the patent of two medicines being subjected to compulsory licensing will take place on Thursday and Friday.
"The negotiations will be about the compulsory-licensing measures and offers the pharmaceutical companies may have," Disease Control Department director general Dr Thawat Suntrajarn said yesterday. He said if the pharmaceutical companies came up with offers that were better than compulsory licensing, the ministry might decide not to enforce the measures. Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla last month invoked a compulsory licence for the HIV/Aids drug Kaletra made by United-States-based Abbott Laboratories and the anti-clotting agent Plavix made by Sanofi-Aventis of France and Bristol-Myers Squibb of the US. Compulsory licences force patent holders to grant the use of a copyright, or other exclusive rights to a government or others in "philosophically justified", non-commercial cases. The patent holder can receive some royalties. "If the negotiations don't lead to satisfactory results, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation will contact the original-drug companies to discuss royalties. Then, it will decide whether to buy the medicines from suppliers offering competitive prices or produce the medicines itself," Thawat explained. National Health Security Office secretary-general Dr Sanguan Nitayarumphong defended the Public Health Ministry's decision to infringe patent protection of some drugs, saying lives must come before corporate profits. Sa-nguan said the ministry acted to ensure access to medicine where lives were at risk. "Pharmaceutical companies have reaped huge benefits from these medicines sold at high prices for some time. These companies should have compassion," Sa-nguan said. The ministry said it proceeded legally in invoking compulsory licences even if it did not discuss the move with manufacturers first. "We have proven that we are serious about this issue," Sa-nguan said. Assoc Prof Dr Jakkrit Kuanpoth said he supported the ministry's move to enforce the compulsory licensing because it did not breach any agreement. He said the United States would not be able to take retaliatory measures in this case because the Doha Declaration had allowed countries to take necessary measures to ensure that their peoples have access to medicines. Jakkrit is now a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong in Australia. Duangkamon Sajirawattanakul The Nation
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