EU Scolds Thailand for Violating Patents on AIDS Drugs

In a July 10 letter to Thailand's minister of commerce, European Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson expressed concern about Bangkok's "approach to access to medicines," specifically Thailand's policy that drug companies must offer their medicines at no more than 5 percent above the cost of generic versions.

"This approach would be detrimental to the patent system and so to innovation and the development of new medicines," Mandelson told the minister, Krirk-krai Jirapaet.

In 2001, the World Trade Organization (WTO) stated that intellectual property rules should not hamper countries from addressing public health emergencies. Mandelson said he supports the declaration, but noted it does not "appear to justify a systematic policy to apply compulsory licenses whenever medicines exceed certain prices." He asked Thailand to enter into direct discussion with companies holding the rights to certain drugs rather than threaten to overrule the patents.

In reply, Jirapaet said both WTO rules and Thailand's 1991 Patents Act allow government agencies to use compulsory licenses without prior authorization from the patent holders. Thailand has an estimated 600,000 HIV patients and has recorded approximately 300,000 AIDS deaths.

Last November, Thailand broke a patent on efavirenz, manufactured by Merck Sharp & Dohme. In 2007, it overruled patents on Kaletra, made by Abbott.

Compulsory licenses are particularly important in ensuring that HIV/AIDS patients have access to second-line treatments in case of drug resistance. In 2006, the World Bank predicted that the Thai government's use of compulsory licenses would reduce the cost of second-line drugs by 90 percent, a savings of $3.2 billion over 20 years.

Doctors Without Borders protested Mandelson's call on Thailand, saying it "blatantly ignores basic public health safeguards" agreed upon by WTO.

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