US puts Thailand on its watch list

[soiarrai]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?rpc=401&storyId=N30425347

 

By Doug Palmer

 

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - The United States criticized Thailand on Monday for steps it took to override patents of two HIV/AIDS drugs, but stopped short of threatening action at the World Trade Organization.

 

The U.S. Trade Representative's office, in an annual report on how well countries protect U.S. intellectual property rights, said it was elevating Thailand to its "priority watch list" because of an "overall deterioration in the protection and enforcement" of intellectual property rights there.

 

"In late 2006 and early 2007, there were further indications of a weakening of respect for patents, as the Thai Government announced decisions to issue compulsory licenses for several patented pharmaceutical products," the USTR said.

 

The Doha declaration adopted by WTO members in November 2001 reaffirmed that countries have some flexbility under international trade rules to ensure their populations have access to life-saving medicines.

 

Those include compulsory licenses requiring drug patent holders to allow others to produce their drugs.

 

"While the United States acknowledged a country's ability to issue such licenses in accordance with WTO rules, the lack of transparency and due process exhibited in Thailand represents a serious concern," the USTR said.

 

Victoria Espinel, assistant U.S. trade representative for intellectual property, told reporters the United States' concern stemmed from compulsory licenses issued by Thailand for two HIV/AIDS drugs and one heart medication.

 

Espinel refused to say whether the United States believed Bangkok's actions violated WTO rules and also would not comment on any future steps Washington could take.

 

Shortly after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted last September, Thailand declared compulsory licenses to make or buy generic equivalents of an AIDS drug owned by Merck & Co . Then it overrode patents on another AIDS drug owned by Abbott Laboratories and a heart disease drug owned by Sanofi-Aventis , prompting an outcry from the companies and praise from HIV patient rights groups.

 

Abbott has been criticized for the high prices of its AIDS drugs in developing countries and the company initially said it would stop launching new drugs in Thailand to protest the Thai government's decision override drug patents.

 

Last week, Abbott offered to sell a new heat-stable form of an AIDS drug in Thailand for $1,000 per patient per year, matching an offer it made earlier in the month to about 40 low- and middle-income countries.

 

The drug patent issue is just one of the many reasons the United States decided to put Thailand on its priority watch list this year along with 11 other countries, Espinel said.

 

Thailand's copyright legislation and trademark rules need to be strengthened and "very serious enforcement concerns have existed for some time and don't appear to be getting any better," Espinel said.

[chuckwoww]

Some background on Thailand and drug patents...

 

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.25890/pub_detail.asp

 

 

[Flashermac]

Looks like an easier country to invade???

 

[Flashermac]

BANGKOK POST

30 April 2007

 

Thailand hits Top 10 of copyright pirates

 

 

Washington (dpa) -Thailand has tried to stem copyright piracy, but has joined China, India and nine other countries that top the US list of worst offenders, the US government alleged early on Tuesday Thailand.

 

The report points out that Thai officials have worked "amid challenging circumstances" to enforce the law. But the efforts "appear not to have had a measurable effect on piracy and counterfeiting rates," the report said.

 

US trade officials singled out Thailand's lack of control over optical disc media (DVDs).

 

Piracy of trademarked products like footwear, books, business software, cable and signals were also cited.

 

The report said Thailand had insufficient penalties for violations, and there were indications of a further "weakening of respect" for patents such as pharmaceutical products.

 

The other countries are Russia, Egypt, Argentina, Chile, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela.

 

The annual Special 301 report, issued by the US Trade Representative's office, placed the countries on a special "priority watch list" that will be monitored to "encourage and maintain" effective intellectual property rights protections.

 

Another 31 countries were put on lower levels of monitoring.

 

Only Thailand is new to the priority watch list list this year, "reflecting a concern that the past year has been characterised by an overall deterioration in the protection and enforcement" of copyright laws.

 

Presence on the list could eventually led to sanctions under the World Trade Organisation rules.

 

In China, an estimated 85 to 93 per cent of all copyrighted material sold is thought to be pirated, the report said. Russian piracy sales have robbed US copyright holders of an estimated 2.1 billion dollars in 2006.

 

The report cited greater cooperation in Argentina, where top concerns focussed on pharmaceutical products. Chile and Venezuela remain on the top priority list because of failure to make progress in enforcement and cooperation, and increasing levels of piracy.

 

Egypt has improved its systems, "especially in modernising its infrastructure and training key personnel such as judges and civil inspectors," the report said.

 

But Israel "appears to have left unchanged its intellectual property regime."

 

In India, piracy "remains rampant" and its criminal enforcement "remains weak," the study said.

 

Turkey carried out an "increased number of raids against copyright enforcment during 2006," and Ukraine was "no longer a major producer of pirated" DVDs, the report said.

 

But Ukraine remained a major "transshipment point and storage location" for DVDs produced in Russia and elsewhere, according to the trade officials.

 

Lebanon would be kept on the priority watch list despite "some positive movement" because its protection was "inadequate" and there was "rampant cable piracy," the report said.

 

Although the US has gone along with patent exceptions for drugs under World Trade Organisation accords, for example to treat HIV- AIDS, the study indicated "serious concern" over Thailand's "lack of transparency" on such issues.

 

[Fidel]

Imagine how different the world would be if the concept of "intellectual property" wasn't such a recently conceived idea.

 

Whoever invented the wheel would be minted, same goes for electricity, gun-powder, steel.

 

I say f**k these intellectual property crusaders. If companies, including Hollywood studios, can milk enough cash out of their compatriots to keep them in Armani suits, flash cars and Learjets, then they should be content with that.

 

Greedy bastards!

 

Here's what they want to see ideally, a situation where they can charge say, US$10,000 per patient per year to keep them alive, in a country where maybe 100,000 people living with the illness can afford the price tag. This means they take in US$1,000,000,000.

 

It also means, that the remaining people, the poor, have no choice but to go without.... to die. But fuck 'em, at least the wealthy Westerners have an extra billion dollars to play with.

 

So, Abbott last week offered to supply a heat stable version of their HIV medication to low and middle income countries at US$1,000 per patient per year, that's just under US$3 a day. Cheap, you might say, but not when you consider the fact that most people in low income countries have to get by on less than a dollar a day.

 

To put this into perspective, this is akin to charging someone who nets US$35,000 a year in the West, US$300 a day for AIDS medication.

 

The problem is that nobody in the West seems able to look at any situation except through the lens of neo-liberalism, where the only thing that matters is PROFIT, CASH-MONEY!

 

 

 

 

 

[chuckwoww]

Looks like an easier country to invade???

 

 

Big Pharma won't get Bush to invade. They'll try the regime change route using the media I think. Anyone who knows Thailand should tell them they're wasting their time. The Thais will just get cheap drugs from China.

[Paillote]

Imagine how different the world would be if the concept of "intellectual property" wasn't such a recently conceived idea.

 

 

Stupid... If there where no intelectual property, who would finance the development of drugs with the added risk that the reserach will not come up with a cure? The protection is only there for a period of time so the companies can regain there expenses. After that, everyone can copy it.

 

I am sure many pupils cant afford your teaching in Pakistan. Go ahead, lower your price so everyone can afford it. You will not? Thought so...

 

You have a brain, use it!

 

Paillote

[Fidel]

Hey man, I gave up teaching a long time ago!

 

Seems I was too stoopid and was learning the kids all wrong.

 

I'm amazed at how readily people jump to the defence of large money grubbing corporations. Of course I understand the principle behind I.P laws, and I'm not certain that the Thais really can't afford to pay the US$1,000 per patient per year, however, what I can't stand is the belief that a corporation's right to profit should come before the humanitarian imperative to save lives, often for free.

[Gadfly]

Thais value IP rights enough that their representive to the WHO threatened to hold Western tourists hostages if drug companies refused to provide drugs to Thailand if there was a flu epidemic. There are several threads here with the link to the story if you want the details.

 

In effect: we'll hold your citizens hostage and expose them to diseases if you don't force private companies in your countries to give us what we want for free. You have to put this in context.

 

If you take this out of context, and it was just about compulsory licensing on AIDS drugs, I might be more sympathetic to the Thai position. I still might not agree, but Thailand's position wouldn't appear so outrageous. When you put it in context, it is outrageous. Let's put it in context:

 

1. This goes well beyond AIDS drugs. Without first consulting the drug companies (which they are obliged to do), Thailand announced it would impose compulsory licensing on drugs for chronic heart conditions and rheumitism.

 

2. This is not about a medical emergency. Thailand is not a dirt poor African country where a vast portion of the population is wasting away with AIDS (this isn't really about AIDS drugs anyway). Thailand justified compulsory licensing by saying that without it they couldn't afford their 30 Baht a visit health scheme.

 

3. They still cannot afford it with compulsory licensing. Meanwhile, salaries and other payments to the top militairy brass in Thailand increased by several billion Baht at the same time they took these measures.

 

4. Thailand's economically unviable health care program is having more problems because the economy is stumbling and the tax revenues needed to fund that health care system are falling. GDP growth rate predictions have declined so that they are now down to 3.5% - one of the lowest in the region. Why? Economic nationalism; for example, the capital controls and Thailand's announcement that it intends to enact new laws that will essentially expropriate the assets of foriengers. Not surprisingly, investment is way down.

 

5. Thailand wants to develop its medical tourism industry. Cheaper drugs means higher profits. This is not about compassion or helping sick people in Thailand.

 

6. Nor is this is not just about compulsory licensing. Thailand has a terrible track record when it comes to honoring obligations generally. It track record in IP is horrible, which is why it is own Priority Watch List (compulsory licensing is a very small part of this.) Thailand is breach its obligations to the WTO with the proposed amendments to the Foreign Business Act - these will effectively nationalize foreign holdings in Thailand.

 

Now a drug company says it won't sell certain drugs in Thailand. Is this a surprise? The Thai reaction, unfortunately, is not a surprise: threaten to hold Western tourists hostage.

 

It's also consistent with everything else we are seeing here. Now that that the economy is startng to sputter and stop beacause of measures that scare away investors, the policy makers are claiming the problem is the market (the investors themselves) who are acting inappropriately to their policy measures rather than those policy measures themselves. Expect this sort of nonsense rhetoric to ratchet up as the economy continues to stall.

 

You have to look at all of this in context.

[bibblies]

Hey man, I gave up teaching a long time ago!

 

Seems I was too stoopid and was learning the kids all wrong.

 

I'm amazed at how readily people jump to the defence of large money grubbing corporations. Of course I understand the principle behind I.P laws, and I'm not certain that the Thais really can't afford to pay the US$1,000 per patient per year, however, what I can't stand is the belief that a corporation's right to profit should come before the humanitarian imperative to save lives, often for free.

I've said it on another thread and Paillote said it well, showing up your hypocrisy (a question which you dodged).

 

Why don't YOU do something about it? Why should people working for pharmaceuticals work their guts out trying to find cures for things and get little for it while you're sitting back sipping your $3 cappucino and talking revolution with your backpacker mates. Why should other people risk their hard-earned money by investing in these drug companies for no or little return?

 

Basically, you're saying you want OTHER PEOPLE to pay the cost, not you.

 

It's not a company's job to research and provide free or cheap medicine. It's a government's or charity's. You and your mates are free of your own will to give more of your money and time to these charities any time you want. Yet I bet most of you won't...

 

Yeah, big capitalist drug companies are bad, aren't they? Count the number of drugs discovered and lives saved by this system you regard as so terrible. Then count the number produced by the non-profit socialist systems in the Soviet Union, China, the Eastern Bloc and Cuba (which you seem to admire).

 

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