Lt-General (retired) Daniel Christman, the US Chamber of Commerce senior vice president for international affairs, said in Bangkok yesterday after meeting several Thai ministers and officials that the biggest concerns of US businessmen now is Thailand's decision to impose the compulsory licensing on certain drugs.

The Thai government broke the patent protection on three types of drugs and declared it would produce generic versions of those drugs at cheaper prices.

"The Public Health Ministry announced the measure quickly without consultation. It shocked the business community in terms of how they can react," he said.

He said the recent decision would only exacerbate the foreign perception of Thailand.

The US Chamber of Commerce's survey of 234 business executives from across five continents, showed that Thailand's new economic policies and poor intellectual property safeguards could be jeopardising international investment.

Christman wants to see the government have more direct talks with the private sector and is willing to act as a bridge between them.

He said he had experience in bridging the interests of two sides in Brazil and South Africa before and that two-way negotiations produced more acceptable solutions.

Christman met Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangarn, Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet, Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras, and senior public health officials to address the US concerns including intellectual property rights, the amendment of the Foreign Business Act and the capital-control policy.

Christman said that the US business survey also showed that global executives put Thailand at the top of the list of countries where government decisions are shifting attitudes. Nearly 28 per cent of them said the recent decisions on intellectual property rights, investor protection and the business environment had caused them to alter their view of Thailand as an investment opportunity.

Trailing far behind on the list was Indonesia and Malaysia with only 9.8 per cent each.

Three quarters of them said the military coup and Thai economic policies, including currency controls, new foreign ownership laws and the decision to break the intellectual property act will be a factor in their plans to invest in Thailand.

He said the US private sector was concerned that the case of breaking the patents would become a standard operation rather than an exceptional once.

Christman said the case had a "broad reputation effect" and hoped the government would come up with a quick solution.

On the Foreign Business Act, Christman said the private sector wanted to make sure the law would increase opportunities for them before it is finalised.

He said he supported the amendment to solve the ambiguity over nominees and to make the law transparent, but disagreed with the idea of having the law enforced retroactively.

On capital controls, he said he understood the Thai government needed the measure to stabilise the baht but urged the Finance Ministry to look for additional policies to ensure the economy would be more stable.

The US Trade Representative is scheduled to review its trading partners' status in April. Chances are Thailand may be downgraded from "Watchlist" to "Priority Watchlist" category, subject to trade retaliations.

Christman declined to directly comment on the issue, saying the decision is up to the US government.

Meanwhile, Dr Kriengsak Vacharanukulkieti, who heads the Rural Doctors' Society, started circulating an open letter via e-mail to doctors at state hospitals asking them to join in the boycott of Abbott's products.

The letter would reach all state hospitals across the country within a week, he said.

In a separate interview, Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said he would explain the needs of the compulsory licensing to all pharmaceutical companies via their governments.

"Over the past 23 years, we tried to negotiate with the drug-makers to reduce the price of drugs but they always refused. However, we are still willing for any negotiation."

Mongkol admitted he felt uneasy with Abbott's withdrawal of licence applications for its new drugs because some patients needed them. Abbott Laboratories responded to the compulsory licensing by withdrawing its applications for registration of its new drugs in Thailand.

"I believe that regular consumers of Abbott would still prefer Abbott's drugs to the generic versions, while the compulsory licence would help underprivileged people to have access to the drugs," he said.

The Health Minister will fly to the United States to explain why he has enforced compulsory licensing on three patented drugs of US-based companies.

"The trip will take place soon," Dr Suwit Wiboonphonprasert of the Public Health Ministry said yesterday.

He was speaking after a meeting with delegates from the US Chamber of Commerce who called on Suwit to seek an explanation over the compulsory licensing.

"They first asked whether we have respected the intellectual property laws, but after they were informed of our need to enforce the compulsory licensing, they understood our point," Suwit said.

"We are ready to explain our point to both the private and government sectors in the US," Suwit said.

Earlier this year, Mongkol na Songkhla invoked a compulsory licence for the HIV/Aids drug Kaletra made by US-based Abbott Laboratories and the anti-clotting agent Plavix made by Sanofi-Aventis of France, and Bristol-Myers Squibb of the US.

Late last year, the Public Health Ministry also enforced the compulsory licensing over HIV drug Efavirenz.

Compulsory licences force patent holders to grant the use of a copyright, or other exclusive rights to a government or others in "philosophically justified", non-commercial cases.

The patent holder can receive some royalties.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai,

Duangkamon Sajirawattanakul

The Nation