Campaigners secure the UK's support for Thailand's move to protect public health
Student campaigning has been instrumental in securing the explicit support of the UK government for Thailand's move to protect public health.
Hilary Benn at full speed
P.A.Knox
The background
In recent months the Thai government has issued compulsory licences for two AIDS drugs, in order to bring down the price of urgently needed HIV/AIDS treatment, and to ensure more reliable supplies. Compulsory licensing allows the government to import and produce generic versions of the drugs without having to get prior permission of the companies holding the patent.
Compulsory licensing is perfectly legal under Thai law and World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, and its use has been recommended by both the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. Compulsory licensing is one of the ‘flexibilities’ within the WTO’s Trade Related Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS), which countries can use to protect public health.
Read more about the Thailand case
Earlier this year Thailand announced its plans to make urgently needed HIV/AIDS drugs affordable. This move was met with attacks from pharmaceutical companies and the US government.
Warning that this pressure might deter other countries from putting public health before corporate profits, UK campaigners have been urging the Government to voice its support for Thailand.
And these campaigning efforts have paid off! People & Planet has received a letter from Gareth Thomas MP, Under-Secretary of State for International Development, which explicitly states the UK’s support for Thailand’s move.
Student campaigners make the difference
“Coming back to the question about Thailand that you didn’t answer…”
P.A.Knox
Over a hundred student campaigners from People & Planet and the Student Stop AIDS Societies came together at the Stop AIDS Day of Action.
P.A.Knox
Student campaigning has been key in shifting the Government’s position. In March the Stop AIDS Day of Action kick-started action on Thailand. During that day student campaigners met Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn, to hand-in 10,000 action cards.
This event was the culmination of a year of relentless lobbying efforts from student campaigners, who have been collecting action cards and persuading MPs to sign EDMs, table parliamentary questions, and write to Ministers in support of the campaign. DFID reported that as well as the 10,000 action cards collected, over 400 MPs had written to the government about the campaign.
At a question & answer session with Benn, students used the opportunity to question him about Thailand. Hilary Benn assured campaigners that the UK supported developing countries’ right to protect public health, and promised to raise the issue with the G8 Development Ministers. However, he would not make a statement which explicitly supported Thailand’s move.
The importance of political support for Thailand
The support of the international community for Thailand’s move is essential for encouraging developing countries to use measures to lower drug prices in order to provide essential medicines. Countries face both substantial technical and political barriers that stop them from using those measures.
Thailand’s case has highlighted the enormous political pressure countries face when making use of their right to protect public health:
- Brand name drug companies responded to Thailand’s move with threats of legal action and the withdrawal of investment. Abbott Laboratories went one step further by withdrawing life-saving medicines from Thailand’s market. Read about Abbott’s behaviour, and the response of campaigners
Students protest outside Abbott’s UK headquarters
Sarah Waldron
Drug companies and their allies have launched misleading public ‘disinformation’ campaigns. One group, USA For Innovation (“a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of intellectual property and continued innovation around the globe”,) launched a website called Thai Lies and took out advertisements in Thai newspapers suggesting that Thai patients would now receive poor quality, unsafe medicines. USA for Innovation’s Director, Kenneth Adelman, also works for the PR company “Edelman”, who list Abbott and a number of other drugmakers among their largest clients.
Despite admitting that Thailand was entirely within its rights, US government representatives suggested that Thailand’s move was not “in the spirit of the TRIPS agreement”. The US government has recently elevated Thailand to its 2007 “301 priority watch list” citing Thailand’s “weakening respect for patents”. This list identifies countries that are judged as failing to offer “adequate and effective protection” for US intellectual property ‘rights’. Placing Thailand on this list allows the US to punish Thailand by withdrawing trading privileges or imposing sanctions. The US has recently outlined actions Thailand could take to escape the priority watch list, including an extensive list of ‘TRIPS-Plus’ requirements - requirements which go far beyond the requirements of TRIPS and which would severely restrict Thailand’s right to protect public health.
This political pressure and bullying not only threatens Thailand’s right to protect public health, but also has much wider implications. If Thailand as a middle income country is intimidated then low income countries will be discouraged from even trying to use the same processes. On the other hand, if Thailand is successful, this will send an encouraging message to poorer countries wanting to take similar measures.
More student pressure, and a result!
In light of this pressure and its implications, we urged the UK government to “take a stronger stand on this issue, and offer Thailand [its] explicit and active support”. In case the government were in any doubt about the importance of the issue, student campaigners joined a Global Day of Action to demand that Abbott Laboratories stop its bullying behaviour and ask the UK to speak out for Thailand’s rights.
Finally, on 22 May, DFID wrote to People & Planet with an explicit statement of support for Thailand’s use of compulsory licensing.
“The Thai Government has made the decision to use these TRIPS flexibilities in the form of compulsory licensing based on their assessment of the public health need within Thailand. We support Thailand’s right to use compulsory licensing provisions in order to protect public health, and in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.
“We agree that Thailand’s stated use of compulsory licensing provisions has not broken any WTO rules as there is no obligation to negotiate with the rights holder if the products are for public non-commercial use.”
With this statement the UK Government takes a clear stand and makes an important move towards tackling the barriers that prevent countries accessing affordable treatment for their people.
Read page 1 and page 2 of the letter from DFID.