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 …

Abbott Laboratories Inc, one of the greediest and most despised Pharma in its league has agreed to pay between $10 million and $27.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed by AIDS patients over the company’s 400 percent price hike of the HIV drug Norvir, the International Herald Tribune reports.
Back in late 2003, Abbott increased the price of Norvir’s average daily cost per patient five times to compensate for the smaller doses of Norvir needed when used as a booster rather than as a standalone drug.
Where do they get such idea at …

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 …