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Published on February 21, 2008

The United States is likely to petition the World Trade Orga-nisation (WTO) over Thailand's compulsory licensing of drugs, saying it was not discussed with the patent holders, a senior Commerce Ministry source  says.

But Thai officials say the negotiations did take place with the patent owners before compulsory licensing was an-nounced.

No agreements had been reached as the manufacturers only offered to lower their prices gradually.  One company said it could only decrease the cost of its tablets by Bt1.

The government was left with no choice but to enforce compulsory licensing to enable the poor to have access to the highest quality medicines.

The Commerce Ministry source said senior US officials had warned of steps to petition the WTO, and Bangkok was now closely monitoring any moves by Washington. The Public Health Ministry, he said, was well prepared to give a clear explanation to the WTO if the US decided to file a case.

"Thailand insists on following the WTO's commitments about compulsory licensing of drug patents registered in the King-dom," said the source, adding the country would likely remain on the US Trade Representative's (USTR) "Priority Watch List" instead of being downgraded "Priority Foreign Country" status.

Officials had feared the USTR would downgrade the Kingdom for being weak on intellectual property violations.

Foreign Trade Department deputy director-general Un-chana Withayathamthat said if Thailand was no longer entitled to the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for exports to the US, 20 per cent or US$4 billion (Bt130 billion) of the country's sales to that key market would face higher tariffs. GSP benefits would be at risk if the USTR were to take a tougher stance on the country's trade status.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Health, Foreign and Commerce ministers was scheduled for next week to finalise a decision on whether to announce more compulsory licensing.

Health Ministry spokesman Dr Suphan Sridhrama said if Washington were to take legal

 

action over compulsory licensing and claim negotiations were not held, the ministry would produce evidence to prove it had issued 13 invitations to talks to the drug makers since October.

Information Department deputy director-general Thani Thongphakdi said yesterday Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Virasakdi Futrakul and the Health Ministry had already given the Commerce Ministry detailed information contained in a report from Thailand's ambassador to the US last week.

"The United States is closely monitoring how the Samak government will handle the compulsory licensing issue. The US clearly doesn't want Thailand to enforce compulsory licences because of the damage to the US pharmaceutical industry," Thani said.

According to a source, the ambassador's report explains the position of the US government, the USTR and US pharmaceutical companies on compulsory licensing.

"The Foreign Ministry tried to persuade the relevant [US] authorities to take into account the relationship between Thailand and the US. It also presented the pros and cons of compulsory licensing. But ultimately it is government policy that will have the final say," the source added.

Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsap has denied reports that he had already decided what to do about the recent enforcement of compulsory licensing for cancer drugs.

Chaiya said he could not make a decision as he had not yet received a report from the ministry's permanent secretary, Dr Prat Boonyawongviroj, about the outcome of a meeting between the permanent secretaries of the Health, Commerce and Foreign ministries last week.

The officials met to seek a solution and collect more information about the impact of the revision of the recent enforcement of compulsory licensing.

Chaiya said the Health Ministry had set up a committee to ascertain the cost of treatment per year and the exact number of patients suffering from lung cancer, breast cancer, gastric cancer and leukaemia, as these patients needed four cancer drugs for treatment - imatinib, docetaxek, erlotinib and letrozole.

The study will be concluded next week and submitted to a meeting of the Commerce and Foreign ministers. The study will be crucial to any decision on patient benefits and access to life-saving drugs.

Meanwhile, law professors and legal experts from the US, Australia, Canada, Argentina and South Africa have signed a petition to Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and Chaiya urging them to retain the compulsory licensing for cancer drugs.

The petition said they agreed the licensing was lawful not only under Thai law but also under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips).

Petchanet Pratruangkrai, Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation