Access to life saving medicines is once more at the heart of trade negotiations between Thailand and the US. And again the US administration and businesses have chosen to bully the Thai government in advance of a meeting in Washington prior to the release of the that impacts on trade conditions between the US and its partners.
Compulsory licensing (CL) has been the casus beli of an ongoing battle started when the junta government led by Surayud Chulanont issued compulsory licences for antiretrovirals and anti-cancer drugs in September 2006 in …

In a study published in STI online, Michael Reece and Colleagues empirically assessed the relationship between men’s penis size and their perception of condom feel and fit. Such perception is particularly important for the promotion of correct and consistent use of condom by men, and consequently their efficacy to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.
1,661 men self-reported penile dimensions ranging from 4 to 26 cm in length and 3 to 19 cm in circumference and were consequently grouped in 3 different dimension groups, “shorter,” medium and “longer” (not short, medium and long!).
Unsurprisingly, …

Note: Rather unusually, this post has a political content that I usually keep for myself or for friends and close relatives. Politics is too serious to be discussed on the Internet and a 600-word post can only gloss over events, beliefs and concepts that would need books on their own.
The last few days have been rather hectic between work and the preparation of my journey to Thailand. I had to cancel and book again my flight due to the closure of the 4th largest airport in South East Asia because …

Or the case of Thailand compulsory licensing vs. right wing pharmaceutical lobbyists
This article was written in May 2007, revised in June 2007 and minor edits were made on 17/11/08. I decided to republish it after my attention was drawn by the Wisdom of Whores to a recent opinion piece written by Roger Bate for the New York Times. In his latest article for the NYT, Bate conflates generic and counterfeit medicine finding another occasion to held high the flag of a sometimes unscrupulous pharmaceutical industry. The text below is a …

Earlier in September, peripheries commented on HIV amongst people over 50 and the importance of not excluding them from VCT on the basis that they were too old.
In this week’s New York Times, Karen Barrow noted that “Today, because of antiretroviral therapy and an array of drugs to treat both symptoms and side effects, AIDS has become a chronic condition to be managed, at least in the developed world. No longer is the face of AIDS emaciated and covered with lesions; Americans with the disease are stronger and healthier, their …