A Commerce Ministry source said the main focus of Johnson's discussion with the ministers would be employing compulsory licensing as the law will affect the US. The country is one of the world's major pharmaceutical manufacturers.

If implemented, the measure will allow Thailand to produce generic drugs that have been heavily imported. The government is planning to manufacture the generic verison of high-priced drugs for HIV/Aids, cancer and heart disease.

Last Friday, Public Health Minister Dr Mongkol na Songkla signed an order to enforce compulsory licensing of Kaletra, a drug used to treat HIV patients, and Plavix, which is used for heart-disease patients.

The compulsory licensing is under the World Trade Organisation's agreement known as Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). This stated that compulsory licensing can be enforced by a country for certain drugs critically needed to save people's lives and which the country is unable to afford.

The government's use of compulsory licensing stirred controversy among the pharmaceutical industry who opposed it and public health advocates who supported it.

Oxfam International yesterday issued a press statement saying that compulsory licensing would open doors to affordable medicines in Thailand and other developing countries.

"The Thai government is acting in accordance with public health safeguards agreed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and should not be contested by large pharmaceutical companies," Tim Wainwright, Oxfam's regional director, said in the statement.

Oxfam believes that Thailand's compulsory licensing will strengthen other countries in Asia to enforce public health safeguards guaranteed by the TRIPS.

Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers' Association of Thailand (PReMA) yesterday argued that the decision by the Public Health Ministry was a stunning blow to the foreign investment climate in Thailand and would seriously damage the country's image among the global business community.