New Thai govt to review drug patent plan

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

Chaiya, speaking to reporters as a new government began work after a December election, said a committee would review whether the licenses on four cancer drugs, two HIV-AIDS medicines and a heart treatment complied with Thai laws. "It might have been a politically correct decision, but not legally correct," Chaiya said of the program, praised by health activists and denounced by drug firms, which allows Thailand to make or buy cheap, copycat versions of patented drugs.

"I can assure you that we won't lift the licenses now. My policy is to review it and find out what caused it and tackle those causes," he said.

Drug firms and their allies have accused Bangkok of stealing intellectual property, while the United States put Thailand on its "priority watch list," citing weaker respect for patents.

Former Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla overrode Merck's AIDS drug Efavirenz in late 2006, arguing that Thailand could not afford patented drugs for a national health plan that covers about 80 percent of the country's 63 million people.

More recently, it targeted Letrozole, a breast cancer medicine made by Novartis AG, the breast and lung cancer drug Docetaxel by Sanofi-Aventis and Roche's Erlotinib, used for treating lung, pancreatic and ovarian cancer.

Other drug companies appear to be betting that Thailand's new cabinet, packed with supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a bloodless 2006 coup, will take a pro-business view on the patent issue.

($1= 32.94 Baht)