Thai Flu - Get sick and get arrested?

The Thai Flu
> March 14, 2007; Page A14; WSJ
>
> If you care about property rights -- or access to new
> medicine for the world's poor -- keep your eye on the
> current fight over Thailand's attempt to confiscate
> drug patents. The brawl is getting messier by the day.
>
> In the latest news, the Journal reports that Abbott
> Laboratories has decided not to market any new
> medicines in Thailand. Abbott will continue to sell
> drugs currently on sale in the country, but it has
> withdrawn its applications for other drugs under
> government review.
>
> This is a big decision for any company, because it
> means forfeiting a large market and risking some
> negative publicity. But it is also an entirely
> rational business decision, after Thailand's military
> government decided to revoke Abbott's patent for its
> new blockbuster AIDS drug. In January, Thailand's
> Ministry of Public Health announced it would issue
> "compulsory licenses" for medications produced by
> Abbott and Sanofi-Aventis -- meaning that Thailand
> will eventually produce generic copies of these drugs.
> This followed a similar move against Merck in
> November.
>
> Thai patients will be the losers, at least in the
> short term, though that is entirely the fault of the
> Thai government. In the long run, Abbott's withdrawal
> may have a salutary impact if it demonstrates to Thai
> officials and other governments that they will pay a
> price for stealing intellectual property. Drug patents
> are a globally recognized way to guarantee a return on
> investment in producing new therapies, and there will
> be no incentive to innovate if governments can revoke
> patents with impunity.
>
> Meanwhile, the U.S. government is getting into the
> mix, albeit a tad late. HS SHecretary Michael Leavitt
> has finally summoned the energy to lodge a formal
> protest with Bangkok over remarks by one of its
> officials that Thailand will arrest foreign nationals
> in the event of an influenza outbreak. At a January
> meeting of the executive board of the World Health
> Organization, Thai representative Dr. Suwit
> Wibulpolprasert proposed holding Western tourists
> hostage until Bangkok received flu vaccines.
>
> In a March 7 letter, Mr. Leavitt said Dr. Suwit's
> comments "appear to contravene the spirit and
> provisions of the revised International Health
> Regulations" for how countries cooperate to curb the
> global spread of disease. Hostage-taking is not among
> the preferred medical treatments for the flu. Would-be
> kidnapper Dr. Suwit was also an important voice
> advocating seizure of the drug patents.
>
> And, incredibly, he and Thailand's Minister for Public
> Health, Dr. Mongkol na Songkhla, have found supporters
> in high places in international health organizations.
> Peter Piot, head of the United Nations joint program
> on HIV/AIDS, wrote in a December 26 letter to the
> Minister that Bangkok's decision to retract Merck's
> HIV/AIDS drug patent was "a good example" of the
> country's commitment to "provide access" to
> antiretrovirals and lower the cost of the drugs.
>
> After an initial burst of common sense, even the WHO
> is now supporting Bangkok's theft. Director-General
> Margaret Chan, whom these pages praised in January for
> criticizing Thailand's IP abuse, retracted her
> statement in a conciliatory letter to the Thai
> government shortly thereafter. "I deeply regret that
> my comments . . . may have caused embarrassment to the
> government of Thailand," she wrote. "They should not
> be taken as a criticism of the decision of the Royal
> Thai government to issue compulsory licenses, which is
> entirely the prerogative of the government."
>
> In seizing the patents, Thailand is taking advantage
> of vague language in a World Trade Organization
> agreement on intellectual property rights permitting
> compulsory licensing in a time of "national emergency"
> or for "public non-commercial use." There's no such
> emergency in this case. And in any case, Thailand
> hasn't bothered to lift the taxes levied on drug
> imports or address the often double-digit markups on
> drugs as they wend their way through the domestic
> delivery system. It's even possible that Bangkok is
> considering seizing the patents, producing drugs at
> home, and turning its state-owned pharmaceutical
> monopoly into a regional drug store.
>
> The WHO's executive board next meets in May. Unless
> Dr. Chan and other officials start publicly supporting
> intellectual property rights, there's a good chance
> Thailand's actions will be replicated elsewhere.
> That's bad news for pharmaceutical companies -- and
> for everyone who cares about drug innovation and
> public health.