In her book The Wisdom of Whores Elizabeth Pisani observes that “Funnily enough, it is often those [governments] that are secure in their popular majority (such as Thatcher in 1986) or those that don’t have to worry too much about voters (such as Iran and China) that can afford to be compassionate.” (p.254)

This against-the-flow statement has gained some weight this week when Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab of the 2007 democratically elected Thai government announced that the the compulsory licences (CL) issued by the military government of Surayud Chulanont soon …

Pro-Pharma lobbyists are at it again, this time in an editorial of The Wall Street Journal (Good Medicine for Thailand – May 29,2008):
“Slowly, the war on drug patents in Thailand seems to be turning. Last week the government removed one of the most vocal opponents of intellectual property rights from the board of the state-owned Government Pharmaceutical Organization. It’s a small step, but an important one for restoring Thailand’s international reputation and protecting patients’ health.
Vichai Chokevivat strongly supported Thailand’s violation of drug companies’ patents over the past two years. Along …