More Thais to get AIDS drugs under deal

Tens of thousands more Thais will receive desperately needed AIDS medicines under a deal announced by former US president Bill Clinton to slash the cost of cutting-edge drugs, officials said Wednesday.

Under the deal with two Indian drugmakers, Thailand will be able to buy advanced anti-retroviral drugs at a fraction of the current cost, Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla told reporters.
"Thailand, which has 30,000 patients who need these anti-retroviral drugs, will benefit from this scheme. It will make the price of drugs five to six times cheaper," he said in a teleconference from the United States.

Those patients will now be able to receive medications that were previously too expensive for Thailand to provide, he said.

Thailand currently provides treatment to about 90 percent of the people who need it, resulting in a dramatic drop in AIDS deaths. However, over time people with the disease become resistant to these first-line drugs.

Newer second-line drugs cost about 10 times as much as the initial treatment, raising the possibility that the government would no longer be able to afford medication for everyone who needs it.

Over the last six months, Thailand has issued compulsory licenses -- which temporarily suspend patent protections -- for three drugs to lower the cost by allowing imports of cheaper generic versions.

Although the World Trade Organisation allows nations to break patents in the interest of public health, Thailand's move sparked an uproar among drugmakers.

But in announcing the latest deal on generics, Clinton threw his support behind Thailand's efforts and a similar programme in Brazil. Mongkol appeared with Clinton during the ceremony in New York.

"To join with the Clinton Foundation is to enhance bargaining power for people who need these drugs, who are mostly from poor countries. This also allows drug companies to sell a larger quantity of drugs at a lower margin," Mongkol told reporters.