World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan in a letter to Thai Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said that although the Thai government was fully within its rights to issue a compulsory license for Abbott Laboratories antiretroviral drug Kaletra, countries should find the "right balance" between providing affordable medicines and incentives for drug companies to develop new treatments, Reuters reports (Reuters, 1/13).
Mongkol last month signed the compulsory license, which allows Thailand to produce a lower-cost version of Kaletra, into law. World Trade Organization regulations allow governments to declare a "national emergency" and issue compulsory licenses without consulting the foreign patent owner. Thailand, which has 580,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, has won international recognition for its quick launch of a national drug program that treats more than 82,000 HIV-positive people. However, the government's commitment to providing universal access to care is facing increasingly high drug costs. The compulsory license could save the country as much as $24 million annually. According to a joint statement released earlier this month by the health ministry and Abbott, the two sides agreed in principle to reduce the price of Kaletra in Thailand to increase access to the drug among HIV-positive people who have developed resistance to other antiretrovirals. The lower price will apply only to Thailand's public health programs and will not apply to private hospitals, people with high incomes or foreign patients. Abbott offered to lower Kaletra's cost to $167 per patient monthly, although representatives from the health ministry said that was still too high. Abbott and the ministry agreed to meet for further negotiations in one month (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/9).
Chan's Letter, Reaction