Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla hopes to win international support for Thailand's move to enforce compulsory licensing on several life-saving medicines while attending the upcoming 60th World Health Assembly.

The World Health Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"We will discuss the issue with friendly states," Mongkol said yesterday. The minister said seven or eight countries had already contacted him for a talk on the sidelines of the assembly - officials mainly from Asia, Latin America and Africa.

The World Health Assembly meets in Geneva each year, and this year the meeting will run from May 14 to 23. Delegates from 193 member states attend the event, the main function of which is to determine the WHO's policies.

Mongkol said he had received more than 200 emails and letters from foreigners in support of the Thai move to enforce compulsory licensing on medicines to treat HIV/Aids and heart disease.

"We have done it transparently and in good faith. We hope that Thai patients with Aids or heart diseases will have access to quality medicines at an affordable price," Mongkol said.

He spoke after the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced this week it was downgrading Thailand's trade status to its "Priority Watch List" over intellectual-property violations.

The move is widely seen as a retaliation against the Ministry''s move to enforce compulsory licensing on certain drugs - including an Aids drug sold by a big US-based firm.

Early next week, Mongkol and Dr Vichai Chokevivat, the head of a panel overseeing compulsory licensing, will fly to the US to sign a deal with the Clinton Foundation - along with several other countries - to bulk buy drugs at cheaper prices.

"The deal is for necessary but expensive drugs, not necessarily those subjected to compulsory licensing," Vichai said.

Mongkol said that after he attends the World Health Assembly in Geneva, he would fly back to the US to meet with USTR.

US ambassador to Thailand, Ralph Boyce, has already contacted Mongkol to help arrange a meeting between him and drug-company associations

"We are ready to explain why we need to enforce the compulsory licensing," Mongkol said.

Compulsory licensing is permitted under WTO rules in national emergencies or justified non-commercial cases. Patent-holders can receive some royalties.

The Public Health Ministry has already enforced the compulsory-licensing process for the HIV/Aids drug efavirenz, sold by US-based pharmaceutical giant Merck under the trade names Sustiva and Stocrin. It also plans to break the patent on HIV drug Kaletra made by Abbott Laboratories, and the anti-clotting agent Plavix, made by Sanofi-Aventis and its local subsidiary.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday stood by the Public Health Ministry's move.

"We have reasons to explain to the world. We are confident that relevant parties will understand our needs," Surayud said.

In regard to the downgrade of Thailand's trade status by the USTR, Surayud said the Commerce Ministry would work things out in a bid to remove Thailand from the US Priority Watch List.

"Our officials will work with US officials in addressing existing concerns … it's best to proceed by applicable requirements," the premier said. Asked about reports that ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra could have been lobbying the US Trade Representative's office, Surayud said it was not possible to confirm such reports.

"We will now focus on how to make others understand our need to enforce the breaking of the patent," Surayud said.

In a related development, Aids activists rallied in front of the US embassy yesterday and waved banners that said "Evil USTR: Stop threatening access to treatment in Thailand".

Activist Nimit Tien-udom said: "We are here to condemn the US government for caring more about money it receives from drug companies than humanitarian causes and the plight of patients."

The activists claim that US Ambassador Ralph Boyce admitted this week that the health ministry's decision on compulsory licensing was a factor in the downgrade.

The activists said hostile and aggressive retaliation by the USTR and drug companies was out of step with WTO rules and set a dangerous precedent for other developing countries who wish to issue compulsory licences for essential medicines. The US and major drug companies must respect the laws of the WTO in the interests of public health.

Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids chairman, Wirat Purahong, urged the Commerce and Foreign Affairs ministries to throw their support behind the Public Health Ministry.

The USTR has said it was concerned by "an overall deterioration" in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Thailand.

Duangkamon Sajirawattanakul,

Chularat Saengpassa

The Nation