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BANGKOK - Thailand's Army-appointed Government said it had approved a cheap, copycat heart disease drug - the first time a developing country has ignored an international patent for such a treatment.
As well as the "compulsory licence" of Plavix, made by United States and European pharmaceutical giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, Bangkok approved a generic version of Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra to treat HIV/Aids.
The move, which Thai health officials said would save the country as much as $34.91 million a year, drew flak from the drug industry but praise from Aids activists.
"We have to do this because we don't have enough money to buy safe and necessary drugs for the people under the Government's universal health scheme," said Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla, who angered drug companies in November by introducing Thailand's first such licence for Merck's Efavirenz anti-retroviral Aids treatment.
Under World Trade Organisation rules, a government can declare a "national emergency" and license the production or sale of a patented drug without the permission of the patent owner.
- REUTERS
