Glaxo withdraws AIDS drug patent plan in Thailand, India

Thu Aug 17,2006 8:21 AM ET
British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKlein has dropped its controversial application to patent a key AIDS drug in Thailand and India, the company and international HIV campaigners have said.
Glaxo, which introduced the drug Combid to Thailand four years ago, told AFP that it had informed the Thai government of its intention to withdraw the patent applications for Combid in Thailand earlier this month.
"We already informed Thai officials of our decision to withdraw the application," a Glaxo spokeswoman in Bangkok said Thursday.
A letter was submitted to the Department of Intellectual Property a day after local and international AIDS campaigners and some 500 HIV patients staged a protest in front of the Glaxo office in Bangkok on August 7.
"The letter passed through its legal advisor in Thailand, it did not explain the reason why Glaxo withdrew its application," Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul of Doctors without Borders told AFP.
"But in fact, Glaxo knows it is not qualified to patent the drug which is not newly invented."
The drug combines existing medications into a single pill, making it easier for patients to comply with their treatment programs.
But according to the AIDS Access Foundation, the medication does not merit a patent because combining existing drugs does not constitute a new invention.
Thailand's Government Pharmaceutical Organization has produced and distributed its own generic version at one-fifth the price for years.
Of the 600,000 Thais with HIV, about 80,000 are receiving treatment. Some 18,000 new cases were reported last year.
Thailand's treatment program has been widely credited with slashing the number of deaths from AIDS by about 75 percent last year.
A World Bank report Wednesday called Thailand's program "a useful beacon for other developing countries" seeking to provide treatment to people with HIV.