A truly sad and disturbing photo (warning)

[The Straight Story]

Thawon, 60, grimaces in pain while resting in his bed at a hospice for HIV-AIDS patients at the Phrabat Nampu Temple in Thailand's Lopburi Province February 17, 2007. Last month, the Thai Health Ministry issued compulsory licenses for the heart disease drug Plavix, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis and Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra to treat HIV/AIDS after a similar move on another AIDS drug last year. The licenses, which Thai health officials said would save the country up to 800 million baht ($24 million) a year, drew praise from AIDS activists but flak from Washington and the drug industry, which are urging the ministry to rescind them.

[Subdivisions]

1. Where is God? n/t

[The Straight Story]

2. We kicked god out

and we rule the world now. With all this power, what have we done with it?

[sam sarrha]

4. sorry no babysitters, you are on your own.. that is why they call it Samsrra

[jwirr]

9. God has given us the means to help people but unfortunately we

tend to ignore the need unless it is our own. God works through people: neighbors.

[SPKrazy]

3. This Is Disturbing...

money is the "God" of our land I'm afraid.

Humanity is for those of us who care.

:cry:

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I'm confused

Why the controversy over this?

[The Straight Story]

6. More info on the story

Thailand plans to break patents on 14 drugs: firms

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is planning to break the foreign patents of 14 HIV/AIDS, cancer and heart drugs, a move that may prompt companies to withhold new drugs from the Thai market, pharmaceutical firms said on Wednesday.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=76F376382A50BD4859E50A81E701DA10

Thailand holds drug giants over a barrel
Pharmaceutical News
Published: Tuesday, 13-Feb-2007


The government of Thailand, has already upset some of the big drug companies by overriding patent licenses for generic versions of heart and HIV/AIDS pills, and is now planning to go one step further unless drug giants cut their prices.

The Thai health ministry is considering which drugs Thailand needs and will either make or buy generic copies while haggling for "appropriate" prices of patented versions.

Government officials say a discount from drug companies will ensure this will not happen and they say this should not be regarded as a threat, but a negotiation for the country's benefit.

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=21887

[deadmessengers]

8. Let them withhold it!

That's the beautiful thing about patents - applying for a patent forces one to disclose the details of your invention and make them public record. In exchange, you get the right to produce and market your invention for seventeen years, competition-free.

Of course, if the Thai government says "screw you, we're not going to honor or enforce your patent", there isn't a freaking thing the drug barons will be able to do about that. Thai companies will be able to produce all the generic AIDS drugs they want, and they'll be exactly like the originals because the recipe will be a fully documented public record. Of course, if some of those drugs were to make it outside Thailand and into the hands of other countries that desperately need AIDS medication (like sub-Saharan Africa, for example), that's just a side benefit.

This is a beautiful legal hack of our deeply, deeply flawed patent system. If it saves lives, I'm all for it.

[The Straight Story]

7. Abbott offers price cut to thwart Thai compulsory license on Kaletra

Abbott offers price cut to thwart Thai compulsory license on Kaletra

Keith Alcorn, Monday, February 12, 2007
Abbott, the manufacturer of Kaletra, has offered to cut the price it charges the Thai public health system for the drug in a bid to dissuade the Thai government from pursuing a compulsory license that would allow a generic version to be imported from India. The announcement came last Friday in a joint statement from Abbott and the Thai Ministry of Public Health.

Kaletra is a fixed dose protease inhibitor combination containing lopinavir and ritonavir, and is recommended by the World Health Organization as a second-line drug.

According to the Xinhua news agency, Abbott has offered to cut the price of Kaletra from $347 a month to $167 a month, bringing the Thai price into line with the price at which Abbott currently offers to the drug to lower-middle-income countries (around $2200 a year).

Further negotiations will take place in one month; the Thai government is known to be looking for further savings. According to Medecins sans Frontieres, importing a generic version of Kaletra could reduce the cost to $120 a month and save $24 million a year, although the Thai government has made no statement on the price it expected to pay for a generic version.

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/08E18120-7D15-4E1C-98DC-145C515EFBAC.asp