Published on January 13, 2006

The United States’ demands on Thailand to tighten its drug patenting practices jeopardise the Kingdom’s entire pharmaceutical industry, Thai drug makers plan to tell American trade negotiators at a meeting today.

Representatives of 150 drug companies under the umbrella of the Thai Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association (TPMA) called an urgent meeting last night at which they agreed that the grouping would oppose demands tabled by Washington in the talks on a Thai-US free-trade agreement, the association’s chairman Chernporn Pen-amnuay said.

“The most unacceptable condition for us, as producers of cheap generic drugs for Thai people, is the data-exclusivity provision,” he said. “If the Thai government accepts this provision, it means a five-year delay in the production of generic versions of patented drugs. This would jeopardise Thai drug users’ timely access to treatment by a cheaper version of key drugs.”

Chernporn and other members of the association accepted an invitation from the US Embassy to meet with negotiators from Washington today. He said he was planning to tell US trade representatives that the association could not accept any demands made by the US that exceeded requirements set by the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property (TRIPs).

Drug producers in Thailand currently receive data from the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on clinical trials of drugs so that they can produce their own generic versions after a drug’s patent has expired. The FDA in turn obtains such data from the original manufacturers as part of the requirement for a drug’s registration for sales in Thailand.

Under the proposed data-exclusivity provision, the FDA would no longer be able to release the data to local drug producers within five years after patents expire.

“This is unfair,” said Sasitorn Kittivoravitkul of TPMA. “The data [by the original makers] comes from clinical tests on Thai people; therefore, it should be considered public information that could be used to benefit the health of all Thais.”

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation

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