Thai public health officials plan to continue discussions with international pharmaceutical companies following recent debates over compulsory licenses issued by the country for some medications, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Daniel Christman said on Tuesday, Reuters UK reports (Amorn, Reuters, 3/20).
Pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories recently announced that it has withdrawn applications to sell seven new drugs in Thailand in response to the country's decision to issue a compulsory license for the company's antiretroviral drug Kaletra. Thai Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla in January 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 provides treatment to 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 for Kaletra could save the country as much as $24 million annually. 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. Mongkol recently said that he will expand the country's generic drug program to include more antiretroviral and cancer drugs unless pharmaceutical companies reduce their prices (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/20). According to Christman, a recent meeting between Thai health ministry officials and pharmaceutical representatives indicated that the two parties could settle their disputes. "What we found here was a willingness of Thai government officials to continue a dialogue which, in their view, has been uninterrupted." Christman added that Thailand could be at risk of losing foreign investment as a result of issuing compulsory licenses. "One of the ways in which a country can compete successfully is to attract foreign investment through a reputation that says it respects the protection of intellectual property," he said. According to a survey of 234 foreign business executives released this month by the commerce chamber, Thailand's new economic and intellectual property policies could deter foreign investment (Reuters, 3/20).