The protest against the multinational pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories' recent decision to take seven essential medicines off the market in Thailand is becoming louder in the country with several NGOs working in the field of health joining the bandwagon of worldwide protesters.
Several NGOs in the country, including Lawyers Collective and Udaan, have announced that they will organise demonstrations on 26 April in front of Abbott's offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi in India as a show of solidarity with the Thai groups who are up in arms against the multinational company.
Recently, Abbott Laboratories has decided to take seven essential medicines off the market in Thailand. This was in retaliation to the decision of the Thai government to issue a 'compulsory license' for government use to Kaletra, an essential life-saving second line antiretroviral (ARV) drug used to treat HIV. Kaletra is patented by Abbott Laboratories. The Thai government's action came in the wake of growing price of Kaletra and the company's refusal to introduce new drugs, including the heat-stable version of Kaletra in Thailand.
Enshrined in Article 31 of the WTO Agreement on TRIPS, a compulsory license allows a government, to either produce or authorize someone else to produce a patented drug without the consent of the patent holder in the event of a national emergency, extreme urgency or for non commercial public use. Compulsory licenses are a legally recognised means to overcome barriers in accessing affordable medicines.
Thailand has an estimated 500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. The government provides first line antiretrovirals (ARVs) to more than 100,000 PLHAs. In the near future, the government estimates that at least 50,000 will require second line ARVs. At the January 2007 price of USD 2200 per patient per year, the government would need to spend approximately USD 110 million per year to treat 50,000 patients. This is more that the 100 per cent of the Thai budget for ARVs in 2007. If patients who need to be shifted to second line ARVs are not provided the medicines, they will soon develop opportunistic infections and die.
In the wake of the intense pressures and protests from the networks and health groups, Abbott Laboratories initially offered to reduce the price of Kaletra to USD 1000 per patient per year. This offer was of no use to Thailand because of Abbott Laboratories' refusal to introduce new drugs, including the heat-stable version of Kaletra, in Thailand.
Lawyers Collective spokespersons Pratibha Siva and Julie George said that the Indian groups are holding processions, protests and marches across the country to demonstrate their support for the actions of the Thai government to increase access to essential medicines for their citizens. In the last few months the Thai government has issued three compulsory licenses for the procurement of affordable generic drugs. The groups are further calling on the Indian government and the governments of all developing countries to support Thailand. The Indian groups are also joining hands with groups around the world to denounce the retaliatory actions of Abbott Laboratories of withholding new drugs from the Thai market and holding the lives of millions to ransom.