Drug :: Thailand may produce copycat drugs

The Thai Ministry of Public Health announced recently that it would issue a “compulsory license” for Abbott Laboratories’ Kaletra, an HIV/AIDS drug, and Clopidogrel, the local Thai brand of Sanofi-Aventis’s Plavix heart medication — meaning that Thailand will eventually produce generic copies of these drugs.

Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla told Reuters a ministry panel was studying drugs Thailand needed and could make or buy copies of while haggling for “appropriate” prices of patented versions.

“If they give us a certain amount of discount, we won’t do it,” Mongkol said, referring to compulsory licences governments are allowed to issue to domestic firms to produce generic versions of drugs in emergencies.

“We don’t call this a threat, but a negotiation for the country’s benefit,” Mongkol said in a telephone interview.

The move, which Thai health officials said would save the country as much as 800 million baht ($31 million) a year, drew flak from the drug industry but praise from AIDS activists.

Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, a government is allowed to declare a “national emergency” and license the production or sale of a patented drug without the permission of the foreign patent owner.


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