"The initial lack of support expressed by WHO for the recent compulsory licences issued in Thailand is a source of concern about the direction WHO is taking in an area where its active contribution could greatly enhance countries' ability to secure access to medicines for their populations," said an MSF statement signed by its executive director, Dr Tido Von Schoen-Angerer.

The MSF statement was issued yesterday while the annual meeting of the 193 members of the WHO is going on in Geneva.

The issues of intellectual property rights and the developing countries' use of international trade flexibilities to allow the import of cheaper versions of patented drugs were listed as significant topics of the 60th assembly of WHO.

The organisation, also known as Doctors without Borders, asked WHO to be proactive in giving technical and policy assistance to countries that want to increase access to expensive medicines by making use of the so-called compulsory licence (CL).

Since the Thai Public Health Ministry decided to use the CL to import cheaper versions of the patented HIV/Aids treatment Kaletra and heart disease drug Plavix from Abbott Laboratories and Sanofy-Aventis respectively, the country has gained strong support from developing countries and various international health advocate organisations - but no official support from WHO.

The use of CL in Thailand sparked a debate on intellectual property rights over whether the rights and benefits of new drug inventors should be continued under the protection of the patent system or not.

Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkla said in a teleconference from Switzerland yesterday that Thailand's strong stand on the use of CL has caused concern in the assembly, as they are worried about the country's stand on sharing samples of H5N1 virus to produce avian flu vaccine.

"They are afraid Thailand might have the same strong stand as Indonesia," he said, referring to the proposal by Indonesia to amend a draft resolution on ownership of bird flu virus samples for vaccines to ensure access for developing countries.

"I confirmed our stand in sharing the samples with all countries, but benefits must be shared equally," he said.

Mongkol also had a chance to discuss with Michael Leavitt, the secretary of US Health and Human Services, about the use of CL in Thailand.

He said the talks were "tense" as Leavitt had scrutinised Thailand on the issue of transparency in issuing CLs and Thailand's further move in applying CL to more drugs.

However, Leavitt seemed to soften his stance after Mongkol's explanation that the use of CL was only aimed at saving the lives of those who needed essential drugs but could not afford them.

Leavitt recommended Thailand to try more negotiations with drug firms.

"I told him we had talked to the drug companies two years ago, before we decided to issue the compulsory licence," Mongkol said.

Puangchompoo Prasert

The Nation