HIV/AIDS advocates in Thailand urge government to maintain compulsory license program

HIV/AIDS advocates in Thailand plan to meet with officials to urge the government not to restrict its compulsory license program, which allows people in the country to access low-cost, generic versions of drugs such as antiretroviral medications, AFP/Google.com reports.

The program suspends patent protections for brand-name drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, cancer and heart disease, thus allowing low-cost, generic medications into the market.

According to the HIV/AIDS advocates, Thailand's Ministry of Commerce recently sent a letter to public health officials requesting that they suspend issuing compulsory licenses because the program is posing obstacles for free trade talks with the U.S. The letter said Thailand "should not implement additional compulsory licensing" in order to encourage the U.S. to remove Thailand from its "piracy watch list," the advocates said. Alongkorn Polabutr, Thailand's deputy commerce minister, plans to visit the U.S. later this month to engage in renewed trade discussions, AFP/Google.com reports. Nimit Tienudom, director of Thailand's AIDS Access Foundation, said he will meet with the minister before his departure. "We are totally opposed to the idea that Thailand should not do more compulsory licensing," Nimit said, adding that the program "benefits Thai people as a whole."

Panitan Wattanayagorn, a spokesperson for Thailand's government, said officials have no intentions of halting the compulsory license program. "Thailand reaffirms that it has implemented compulsory licensing in line with international practice to allow Thai people access to drugs," Panitan said. He added that Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand's prime minister, has asked U.S. business representatives to "send signals to the U.S. administration not to cite the compulsory licensing case to deprive Thailand of trade status or affect our country" (AFP/Google.com, 3/4).