Request solidarity, Thai PLWHA Win case aganist BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB

[Guest guest]

On October 1, 2002 Thai people living with HIV/AIDS and their allies

won a landmark court case against the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

(BMS), which proved the illegality of the BMS patent registration

application for ddI in Thailand. The ruling showed BMS had unfairly

amended its application three years after its original submission, in

which it claimed patent protection for all dosages of ddI, not just

the 5mg-100mg range it submitted in its original application.

Thai activists assert the BMS ddI patent is invalid because it is not

a scientific innovation, according to Thai intellectual property law.

They see the BMS patent claim as an excuse for the Company to charge

exorbitant prices and maintain a monopoly on this important

nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI), a first-line

HIV/AIDS drug.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)

and the Health GAP Coalition join the Thai Network of People Living

with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) and their allies in demanding the immediate

production of generic ddI tablets by Thailand's Government

Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO). We also call on the Thai

government to encourage the GPO to participate in a court case

opening October 9, 2002, that will argue against the validity of the

BMS patent on the HIV/AIDS drug, ddI, in Thailand.

Please send a letter to:

Ms. Sudarat Keyuraphan

Minister of Public Health

Ministry of Public Health

Tiwanond Road, Nonthaburi 11000

THAILAND

Phone: +66-2-590-2057

Fax: +66-2-590-2028

Email: sudarat@...

Please send a copy of your letter to:

Dr. Thongchai Tavichachart, Director

Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO)

Email: thavicha@...

And send a copy to the following activists:

Ms. Onanong Bunjumnong, Access Campaign Coordinator

Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium, Thailand (MSF-

Phone: +661-838-4233

Email: msfdrugs@...

Mr. Kamon Uppakaew, Chairman

Thai Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+)

Phone: +662-376-0175/6

Email: tnpth@...

Mr. Nimit Tienudom, Director

AIDS Access Foundation

Phone: +661-910-4884

Email: mit@...

___________________________

Honorable Minister,

I write you to express my solidarity with the Thai Network of

People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+), and ask that you take urgent

action to help prevent the unnecessary death of tens of thousands of

Thai people living with HIV/AIDS each year.

On October 1, 2002, Thai people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and

their allies made history with their victorious court case against

Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS) violation of the terms of their patent

claim on ddI tablets. When the court ruled in favor of the

plaintiffs, two PLWHAs and the AIDS Access Foundation, it decided to

prioritize the right to health and access to medicines over invalid

corporate patent monopolies. We are asking you to support people

living with HIV/AIDS and take principled action now to give the court

decision true meaning.

I urge you to:

- immediately allow, through the court-sanctioned " temporary

protection, " the generic manufacture of ddI outside the range of 5mg

-100mg by the state owned generic manufacturer, the GPO. Dr.

Thongchai stated the GPO is " ready " to produce the tablets. Generic

production would reduce cost to consumer by 50%.

- immediately send an order to the Director of the Government

Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), Dr. Thongchai Tavichachart, to

empower him to join the second case against BMS in the Central

Intellectual Property and International Trade Court (CIPITC) as a

plaintiff.

As you must know, people with HIV/AIDS do not have time to wait.

In Thailand, 150 people die every day from AIDS.

Government is obligated to respect, protect and fulfill the

human rights of its citizens. For people living with HIV/AIDS, this

includes the right to life, to health, and to share in scientific

advancement and its benefits.

Thank you in advance for your action on behalf of people living

with HIV/AIDS, your leadership in the area of access to treatment in

Thailand, and for recognizing the potentially life-saving

implications of your decisions; not only for Thai PLWHA but also for

the 39 million other people living with HIV/AIDS around the world.

Yours sincerely,

(YOUR NAME AND ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATION, IF ANY)

@@@@@@@@@@@@ BACKGROUND INFORMATION @@@@@@@@@@@@

On October 1, 2002, Thai people living with HIV/AIDS won a

precedent-setting treatment access victory in Thailand's Central

Intellectual Property and International Trade Court (CIPITC). The

court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, two Thais living with

HIV/AIDS and the AIDS Access Foundation, against the defense of the

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS), and the Thai Department of

Intellectual Property (DIP). The plaintiffs claimed that the patent

registration of the HIV/AIDS medication, ddI (tablet form, patent

#7600), held by BMS was invalid. Important findings of the court

include: 1) individuals, not just commercial interests, had the

right to contest an issue in the court on the grounds that health

interests supersede patent protection. The decision referred to the

Doha Declaration, which upholds that pharmaceuticals are different

from other products, as they are vital to public health, and can

therefore be exempted from certain trade restrictions; 2) BMS

illegally amended its patent application three years after its

original submission, in order to claim a wider monopoly than the

patent description justified. BMS was ordered to revert its practices

to be within the parameters of its original claim.

On October 9, 2002, another group of plaintiffs filed a case with

CIPITC, asking the court to revoke the BMS patent on ddI tablets in

Thailand. Plaintiffs include three people living with HIV/AIDS and

the Foundation for Consumers; activists hope they will be joined by

the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO). In this case,

plaintiffs have to show that the BMS patent does not show significant

innovation, a fundamental criteria for the granting of a patent.

Of 60 million inhabitants, about 1 million people are living with

HIV/AIDS in Thailand. Only several thousand of them have access to

treatment. In its five years of existence, the Thai Network of People

Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) and its allies have campaigned for

expanded and improved treatment access and related services, leading

in some cases to significant victory (see IGLHRC Action Alert, " Thai

PLWHA demand Equal Treatment and ARV Coverage Under Universal Health

Care Plan,http://www.iglhrc.org/world/se_asia/Thailand2001Nov.html ).

In 1998, treatment activists demanded that the Thai government

exercise its right to use a compulsory license by producing generic

ddI tablets, a critical first regimen AIDS drug, in order to address

its AIDS treatment crisis. The government refused, citing fear of

United States government retaliation through trade sanctions.

Instead, the Thai GPO produced ddI in powder form. This much less

tolerable formulation caused increased side effects and was less easy

to take.

Activists continued to assert that the BMS patent on its buffered ddI

in Thailand was not an innovation and therefore should not be

protected. According to law, only true innovations are eligible for

patent protection. BMS was originally granted an exclusive marketing

license for ddI by the US government-funded National Institutes of

Health (NIH), which conducted the research leading to ddI's

invention. BMS then manufactured a ddI tablet combining the drug with

a buffer (a common practise among pharmacists where, for example,

antacid would be added to ddI to help absorption in the stomach), and

received patent # 7600 from the Thai Department of Intellectual

Property for what they claimed to be an " innovation " . Thai activists

have seen this as a blatant act of deception and greed - patented ddI

tablets cost twice as much as generic ones. In May 2000 they set the

process in motion to make their legal case against BMS and the DIP.

_____________

Karyn Kaplan

HIV/AIDS Program Officer

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)

c/o Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor

New York, NY 10118 USA

tel: +1-212-216-1256

fax: +1-212-216-1876

iglhrc@... * http://www.iglhrc.org/

______________________