Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18534

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Electronic Source

Silverman E
Thailand Extends Compulsory Licenses On AIDS Meds
Pharmalot 2010 Aug 4
http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/08/thailand-extends-compulsory-licenses-on-aids-meds/

Full text:

Who’s afraid of the US Trade Representative? Despite being placed each year on the agency’s ‘Watch List’ for failing to protect intellectual property (see here), Thailand’s Health Ministry plans to extend compulsory licenses for two AIDS medicines this month – Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Sustiva and Kaletra, which is sold by Abbott Laboratories.
The decision was made by a joint meeting of the Disease Control Department, the Department of Intellectual Property, the Foreign Ministry, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, the Food and Drug Administration and a network of AIDS activists, which agreed the compulsory licensing policy is legimitate and adheres to the 2001 Doha Declaration adopted by the World Trade Organization, The Bangkok Post reports. The extension would enable the Government Pharmaceutical Organization to import generic versions of the drugs from pharmaceutical companies in India.
Although the policy has prompted bitter struggles with drugmakers, notably Abbott (look here), the move has saved about $36 million on AIDS meds, and nearly another $100 milllion in drug costs could be saved if compulsory licensing for both drugs is extended until the end of their patents, according to Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit. The Sustiva patent expires in 2012, while the Kaletra patent expires in 2016. Since compulsory licensing was adopted in 2006, the move has forced down the price of Sustiva by 3.4 times and Kaletra by 6.4 times, respectively.
Before Thailand issued licenses for the two drugs, about 4,539 HIV-positive people had access to Sustiva and only 39 could afford Kaletra, Laksanavisit says. Now, he calculates the number of patients receiving Sustiva is 29,360, and more than 6,200 people receive Kaletra.