Thailand plans to break patents on 14 drugs -firms

BANGKOK, Feb 14 (Reuters) Thailand is planning to break the foreign patents of 14 HIV/AIDS, cancer and heart drugs, a move that may prompt companies to withhold new drugs from the Thai market, pharmaceutical firms said today.

''This action is completely unprecedented anywhere in the world,'' said Teera Chakajnarodom, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers' Association of Thailand, which has 43 member drug firms.

The 14 drugs targeted by the Health Ministry also included antibiotics, Teera said in a statement.

The ministry has announced compulsory licences for three of the 14 drugs, allowing it to buy or make generic versions of the two HIV/AIDS drugs and a heart disease medicine.

Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment.

On Monday, Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla told Reuters a ministry panel was studying drugs Thailand needed and could make or buy copies while haggling for best prices of patented versions. He did not name the drugs being studied.

Foreign drug makers say Thailand's military-appointed government gave no notice to the affected companies before issuing the compulsory licences.

''When governments resolve to take away the property of the private sector, they need to begin with consultation and end with the consent of the property owner,'' Teera said.

Last month, the Health Ministry issued compulsory licences for the heart disease drug Plavix, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis and Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra to treat HIV/AIDS, after a similar move on another AIDS drug last year.

The licences, which Thai health officials said would save the country up to 24 million dollars a year, drew praise from AIDS activists but flak from Washington and the drug industry, which are urging the ministry to rescind them.

Teera said the Thai government was using the licences as a tool to negotiate cheaper prices that did not reflect the high cost of developing new medicines.

''Individual pharmaceutical companies will certainly consider the very significant risk this policy poses when deciding whether to bring their latest medicines to the Thai market,'' he said.

''Far from providing poor patients with the best medicines, the compulsory licence policy might block access to new treatments in Thailand.'' Under World Trade Organisation 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.

The World Health Organisation has said developing nations should try to negotiate with drug companies before overriding patents.

Reuters KD DB1802