Thai Health Activists Are Misled To Believe Their Government is 'Licensed' to Steal Private Drug Patents From Foreign Investors Pursuant To WTO Law!!

Letter to Editor from Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, concerning "Bangkok's Drug War, Round Two"


Thu, 6 Mar 2008


Dear Editor,


I am one of the 'packhounds' that you accuse of spreading scare stories in your editorial (Bangkok's Drug War, Round Two) of 27 February 2008. My organization, which consists of people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand, supports access to necessary drugs for all Thais, not just the rich minority that can pay the prices charged by pharmaceutical companies enjoying monopoly patents.


[THE THAI GOVERNMENT HAS THE LEGAL & POLITICAL RIGHT TO DEVELOP AN HIV/AIDS UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO MEDICINES PROGRAM AT ITS OWN EXPENSE. BUT IT DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMAND FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM FOREIGN INVESTORS; OTHERWISE IT RISKS TRIGGERING CAPITAL FLIGHT].


Your article is sadly misinformed. What you call the 'loophole' of compulsory licensing (which is what has kept some of my friends alive) is in fact a piece of international law that was heavily negotiated and agreed by all member countries of the WTO.


[THIS IS NOT TRUE. THERE WAS NEVER A CONSENSUS ON THE SCOPE OF THE COMPULSORY LICENSING PROVISIONS WHICH HAS BEEN EXPLOITED BY FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS AT THE INSISTENCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF ACADEMICIANS AND NGOS].


The Thai government did not 'seize' patents; it used the same legal right that many other countries have used, including the United States, whose threats of trade sanctions so worry the new Thai Minister of Public Health.


[WHEN HAS THE UNITED STATES ACTUALLY ISSUED A DE JURE COMPULSORY LICENSE?? PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON THE MISLEADING INFORMATION PROVIDED BY KEI'S JAMIE LOVE].


You claim that the need for access to life-saving HIV, heart disease and cancer drugs is not a clear emergency in Thailand. Cancel the free distribution of drugs made possible through compulsory licences and thousands of Thai will be dead in weeks. The emergency is clear enough to them.


[WITH THIS RATIONALE, ANY DISEASE THAT INFLICTS A SUBPORTION OF A POPULATION WILL BE DESIGNATED AS AN 'EPIDEMIC' UNDER THE EVOLVING WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION STANDARDS AND THEN DECLARED A 'HEALTH EMERGENCY' FOR PURPOSES OF TRIPS!!]


And you claim that 'the other side of the argument' is 'missing'. Given the intense lobbying of the new Minister by what you call 'Big Pharma', supported by the US government and enjoying far richer resources than my organization can muster, this is hard to swallow.


[PHARMA COMPANIES HAVE LEGAL ECONOMIC RIGHTS TO DEFEND THEIR EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE PROPERTY, AN ECONOMIC ASSET AGAINST GOVERNMENT EXPROPRIATION. WHY IS IT WRONG FOR THEM TO PROTECT THEIR PRIVATE INTERESTS???]


It took my organization and our allies (in the government, the media, and academia, as well as in other NGOs) a long, long time to get our government to exercise its legal right to compulsory licensing.


Please do not misrepresent our case, bully our government or call us names.


Virat Purahong,
The chairperson of Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+)
494 Soi Nakornthai 11
Ladproa 101 Road,
Klongjan, Bangkapi
Bangkok, Thailand 10240
Tel (66)2377-5065 Fax (66) 2377-9719
E-mail : tnpth@thaiplus.net