mod: this posting includes a report by Reuters providing background information on the current situation of ddI in Thailand)
The Thai Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS and supporting NGO's will start a several day demonstration outside the Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday, December 22, 1999 to demand the use of compulsory license for ddI.
More than a month ago the Thai Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) asked for the use of compulsory license for ddI; we are still waiting for a result. The PHA Network and NGO's have met twice with Public Health Minister, Korn Dabaransi to ask for the use of compulsory license according to section 51 of the Thai patent law or as a minimum to negotiate a voluntary license with Bristol Myers Squibb.
The Public Health Minister suggested that compulsory license should only be used if Bristol Myers Squibb will not reduce the price significantly until the end of this month. Apparently there have been no attempts to even negotiate a voluntary license. Activists will not agree to a mere price reduction by Bristol Myers Squibb because only generic production can guarantee that the price will drop further every time the raw material becomes cheaper. Following the statement by President Clinton in Seattle on trade policy and medicines, the Thai government should now act decisively on the issue of HIV drugs.
Participating NGO's: Thai Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS; ACCESS; Alden House; Siam Care; CLIST; MSF; Care; Empower; Power of Life; Pilapkao Group; Friends of AIDS Group; Human Rights for AIDS; Consumer Foundation and others
*** Below is a report by Reuters that gives a good background on the current situation of ddI in Thailand (MSF-Drugs Bangkok)
THAIS URGED TO STAND UP TO AIDS DRUG FIRM
By David Brunnstrom
BANGKOK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Medical activists are urging Thailand to take a stand against drug multinationals by licensing the local manufacture of a crucial AIDS drug that could let hundreds of thousands live longer if they could afford it.
They say Bangkok should be emboldened to take the unprecedented step over the drug didanosine (ddI) after U.S. President Bill Clinton said Washington would alter trade policy to support greater worldwide access to life-saving medicines.
However, the activists believe Thailand, like other developing countries struggling with the AIDS epidemic, will be unwilling to take the radical step of imposing ``compulsory licensing'' allowed under world trade rules, fearing retaliation.
They say Washington has put pressure on Thailand in the past by threatening higher tariffs on Thai imports.
``The U.S. government is constantly bullying countries that attempt to pass laws to make medicines more affordable,'' James Love, director of the U.S. Consumer Project on Technology, said in a statement in response to Clinton's December 1 announcement.
``If Clinton is to be taken seriously, we'll have to see something concrete. For example, the U.S. could signal to Thailand it can proceed with compulsory licences for ddI ... that was invented by the U.S. government but sold at high prices by Bristol-Myers Squibb.''
Activists see continuing talks between the Thai government and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) on ddI as a test case that could have profound implications for developing nations in the new trade round.
``EXTENDING AND ENHANCING HUMAN LIFE''
The U.S. drug giant, dedicated according to its motto, to ``Extending and Enhancing Human Life,'' boasts on its website http://www.bms.com of subsidising drug therapy in clinical trials in Thailand ``because of the large potential market of more than one million people infected with AIDS.''
It sells ddI in Thailand under the name Videx at about 49 baht ($1.25) a capsule, far beyond the means of most Thais infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Current pricing means people in a country where the minimum monthly wage is just 5,400 baht ($138) must pay up to 8,000 baht ($205) a month for a two-drug anti-retroviral cocktail.
The bulk of the cost is for ddI, since Thailand's Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) began producing the other drug -- AZT, or zidovudine -- in 1995 at about a quarter of the price of the imported version.
Krisana Kraisintu, head of research and development at the GPO, says she could produce ddI for 25 baht a capsule if local production were permitted.
``More HIV-infected people could have access to it if we were to manufacture it,'' she told Reuters. ``Now only five percent of the HIV-infected people can have access to the drug. If I can cut the price to half, maybe up to 10 percent can have access.''
Officials at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Thailand were unavailable for comment, but Thai media reports and activists say the firm aims to head off compulsory licensing by offering ddI in Thailand at a steep discount.
Nobel Peace Prize-winning non-governmental organisation Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), which is spearheading a global campaign to ensure ddI and other essential drugs reach those who need them, says this is not an answer and a stand should be made.
Compulsory licensing would allow the local production of cheap, generic versions of the drug on payment of a royalty.
Activists say drug companies are not only worried about a drop in profits in the country concerned but that if one developing country were to take the step, others would follow.
THAI CASE IMPORTANT FOR COMPANY
MSF says the argument drug firms make -- that the big profits they pile up are needed for research -- is especially spurious in ddI's case since it was developed with U.S. taxpayers' money. It says the best solution would be for the firms to grant voluntary licences for production of key drugs in developing countries.
``For Bristol-Myers Squibb, something important is at stake: the first use of a compulsory licence in a developing country,'' said Tido Von Schoen-Angerer, of MSF's Bangkok office.
``They will accept major price reductions if they can avoid the use of a compulsory licence in Thailand.''
A senior official of the Thai Commerce Ministry's Department of Intellectual Property said it would seek a compulsory licence for ddI only if talks between the GPO and Bristol-Myers Squibb failed.
The official, who did not want to be named, said Thai law allowed compulsory licensing only in a ``national emergency.''
``But nobody has talked about that. Many things in the country might be more serious -- like the economic crisis, or something like that,'' he said.
Von Schoen-Angerer said Thailand's apparent leaning towards a compromise solution was a disappointment.
While the GPO would only achieve a 50 percent reduction in price initially if it were to produce the drug generically -- a price BMS could probably match -- further cuts would likely be possible within a short time, he said.
Chaiyos Kunanusont, director of the Health Ministry's AIDS division, said Thailand should bite the bullet in the interests of the future and not opt for an easier, short-term solution.
"In the long term we want to manufacture some drugs -- not all of them, but some of them, in order to make ourselves independent of the monopoly activities of the drug companies.
``We are not draining all the wealth from the drug company -- we just ask for exemption on a group of medication. They can make money on many other drugs, but these are life-saving drugs.''
***
For the NGO Network:
MSF Thailand
Email: msfdrugs@asianet.co.th
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment