Foundation Praises Thailand for Increased AIDS Drug Access

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a US provider of HIV/AIDS healthcare, education and prevention and operator of free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, joined scores of other global AIDS advocates in praising Thailand's Ministry of Health announcing its intention to issue a compulsory license for the lifesaving HIV/AIDS drug Efavirenz, made by Merck.

World Trade Organization regulations include flexibilities, which allow governments to issue compulsory licenses without consulting the foreign patent owner.

"We applaud Thailand's Ministry of Health for courageously issuing this compulsory license to make an affordable version of the AIDS drug Efavirenz," says Michael Weinstein, president of the foundation. "With this one move, Thailand has placed the health of itscitizens ahead of drug company profits and now stands with Brazil and Malaysia as a model for countries around the world whose people are in need of lifesaving AIDS medicines. We call on governments in countries where people continue to lack access to urgently-needed AIDS drugs to followThailand's lead and pursue all tactics necessary to provide their citizenswith lifesaving medicines."

According to Kaiser Network's Daily HIV/AIDS Report (December 1, 2006): "Thailand's Ministry Of Public Health on Wednesday announced plans to issuea compulsory license to produce a lower-cost version of Merck's antiretroviral drug Efavirenz, Reuters reports ... Thailand, which has 580,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, has won international recognition forits quick launch of a national drug program that treats more than 82,000 HIV-positive people. However, the government's commitment to providinguniversal access to care is facing increasingly high drug costs."

In the Asia-Pacific region, AIDS Healthcare Foundation currently provides free anti-retroviral treatment through its clinics in India, China and Cambodia.