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US pharma giant gives up AIDS drug patent in Thailand
Bangkok, Jan 17: A US pharmaceutical firm has given up its patent in Thailand to produce a generic AIDS drug in a historic move that could see drug costs plunge, activists said today.
Bangkok, Jan 17: A US pharmaceutical firm has given up its patent in Thailand to produce a generic AIDS drug in a historic move that could see drug costs plunge,
activists said today.
Bristol-Myers Squib (BMS) reached agreement yesterday to return its patent to produce the anti-retroviral drug Didanosine (DDI) in tablet form, granted by Thailand's
department of intellectual properties in 1998.
The decision marked a major victory for activists in AIDS-battered Thailand who fought a two-year legal battle to get the patent revoked, and as the country gears up to triple the number of HIV/AIDS patients receiving anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines in 2004.
"This was an important result, and we think this case serves as an example for other countries of the world," Nimit Tien Udom, director of Thailand's AIDS Access Foundation, told.
One million Thais have been infected with HIV-AIDS over the past 20 years and more than a third of them have died, leaving the kingdom with an epidemic second only in size to India in the region.
Thailand has long received international praise for its efforts to combat the HIV-AIDS pandemic, particularly in the 1990s when it ran a pragmatic campaign to halt the spread of the virus.
The US giant returned the patent only to Thailand and not other countries, and it retains its patent for the trade name Videx.
Bureau Report
The decision marked a major victory for activists in AIDS-battered Thailand who fought a two-year legal battle to get the patent revoked, and as the country gears up to triple the number of HIV/AIDS patients receiving anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines in 2004.
"This was an important result, and we think this case serves as an example for other countries of the world," Nimit Tien Udom, director of Thailand's AIDS Access Foundation, told.
One million Thais have been infected with HIV-AIDS over the past 20 years and more than a third of them have died, leaving the kingdom with an epidemic second only in size to India in the region.
Thailand has long received international praise for its efforts to combat the HIV-AIDS pandemic, particularly in the 1990s when it ran a pragmatic campaign to halt the spread of the virus.
The US giant returned the patent only to Thailand and not other countries, and it retains its patent for the trade name Videx.
Bureau Report