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Published on October 3, 2007

 Four cancer drug manufacturers must cut prices or face compulsory licensing, the  National Health Security Office (NHSO) warned yesterday.

The compulsory-licensing implementation committee yesterday set October 18 for talks with the patent holders for imatinib, docetaxel, erlotinib and lectrozole.

Novartis markets imatinib as Glivec, Sanofi-Aventis makes docetaxel as Taxotere and erlotinib is manufactured by OSI Pharmaceuticals as Tarceva. They are prescribed for leukaemia and breast and lung cancers. Lectrozole is a steroid.

FDA secretary-general Siriwat Tiptaradol said if the government could not negotiate price reductions it would impose compulsory licensing. He is collating information about the use of these drugs in Thailand, their imports and costs, and the expiry of their patents.

Dr Wichai Chokevivat, chairman of the compulsory-licensing implementation committee, said the National Health Security Office (NHSO) had recommended compulsory licensing of the four drugs to Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla.

He said the committee agreed because the drugs were especially expensive and out of reach for many cancer patients.

Novartis Thailand has donated Glivec for cancer patients under the universal healthcare scheme. But Siriwat said this did cover other patients.

The Government Pharma-ceutical Organisation is now seeking generic manufacturers of the drugs.

An India-based manufacturer is seeking FDA registration and could be tapped if the government invokes compulsory licensing.

Earlier this year, Thailand imposed compulsory licensing on the Aids drugs efavirenz and lopinavir/ritonavir cocktail Kaletra plus the heart treatment Plavix.

Wichai said the ministry had found manufacturers of generic efavirenz and were in negotiations to buy HIV/Aids cocktails from India's Matrix. The company has quoted US$695 (Bt23,800) per patient per year. The original drugs cost about $3,000 per patient per year.

The ministry has also ordered two million doses of the heart medicine clopidogrel from India's Emcure Pharmaceuticals and expects the first batch to arrive this year.

Duangkamol Sajirawattanakul,

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation