Health Security office defends lifting of patent protection
The National Health Security Office (NHSO) is defending a Public Health Ministry decision to infringe patent protection of some drugs, saying lives must come before corporate profit.
NHSO secretary general Dr Sanguan Nitayarumphong said the ministry acted to ensure access to medicine where lives were at risk.
Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla last month invoked a compulsory licence for the HIV/Aids drug Kaletra made by United States-based Abbott Laboratories and the anticlotting agent Plavix made by Sanofi Aventis of France and BristolMyers Squibb of the US. Compulsory licences force patent holders to grant the use of a copyright, or other exclusive right to a government or others in "philosophically justified," non-commercial cases. The patent holder can receive some royalties. The ministry invoked a compulsory licence for the makers of Efavirenz last year in the first case of its type. However, the latest action has angered the manufacturers. "Pharmaceutical companies have reaped huge benefits from these medicines sold at high prices for some time. These companies should have compassion," Sanguan said. The ministry said it proceeded legally in invoking compulsory licences even if it did not discuss the move with manufacturers first. "We have proven that we are serious about this issue," Sanguan said.
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