Thailand Issues Compulsory Licen

Trade News

On November 29, 2006 the government of Thailand took an important step in lowering the price and increasing availability of an important first-line HIV/AIDS drug, efavirenz (Stocrin), despite it still being under patent by the US pharmaceutical corporation, Merck & Company. It announced it would issue a compulsory license to the Government Pharmaceutical Organization of Thailand to produce the drug. The Thai government said it was allowed to do this under international trade and IP law, as well as Thai law.

In the announcement, the government said that under the Doha Declaration (agreed to at a WTO ministerial in Doha, Qatar in 2001), and the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), “member countries have a right to issue a safeguard measure to protect public health, especially for universal access to essential medicines using compulsory licensing on the patent of pharmaceutical products.” It also referred to the Thai Patent Act, saying that the government had the right to use any patent rights “for non-commercial public uses.”

The Thai government has reportedly been pressured in recent weeks by the Office of the US Trade Representative, on behalf of the broader pharmaceutical community, to enter first into discussions with Merck to make the drug in question available at a lower price. A spokesperson from USTR told the monitoring group Intellectual Property Watch (IPR) (http://ip-watch.org/index.php?res=1024_ff&print=0) that it had “not provided specific advice” to the Thai authorities in this case.

The spokesperson told IPR that the USTR does not question the fact that World Trade Organization (WTO) rules allow for compulsory licenses, but said it expects Thailand, as a WTO member, to “follow certain steps,” and that it would have been appropriate to engage all parties first. An NGO letter signed by 140 organizations and individuals, including the Oblate JPIC Office, was sent to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and USTR Susan Schwab, asking the US to stop any interference with the Thai effort to issue a compulsory license.

The Thai government is working to supply HIV/AIDS medicines to Thais infected with the virus at no cost. Physicians in Thailand reported that there have sometimes been insufficient quantities of efavirenz available for patients who needed it. They had been encouraging the Thai government to supply a generic (cheaper) and more certain supply of the drug through a compulsory license granted to the Government Pharmaceutical Organization of Thailand. The drug is said to be highly effective and safe, in contrast to cheaper HIV/AIDS medicines which are more toxic.

In a report from Intellectual Property Watch, the Thai government reportedly met recently with Merck & Company “in a very constructive and friendly atmosphere. MSD proposed to reduce the price to 550 Baht/m, [from] 1,400 previously. Our GPO [Government Pharmaceutical Organization] can provide at 560/m.”

According to IPW, the Thai government intends to maintain the compulsory license in place for a period of five years, until 31 December 2011.