By Jason Derry --
As we reported on December 6, the Thailand government recently issued a compulsory license on Merck's AIDS drug, Efavirenz. We also noted that Merck was not
happy about the action because Thailand failed to contact Merck prior to
making the decision. Today, the Intellectual
Property Owners Association (IPO) reported that U.S. pharmaceutical companies have joined Merck in criticizing
Thailand's decision to issue the license without negotiating first with Merck.
In a related story about foreign countries
permitting its citizens access to generic versions of patented drugs, Pfizer has filed charges
against governmental agencies in
the Philippines over the importation of a generic version of Pfizer's drug,
Norvasc, into the Philippines. The government in the Philippines, rather
than issuing a compulsory license, followed a separate route for getting generic
drugs to its citizens. That route is
known as "parallel importing." The World Trade Organization (WTO) affords a right to exercise parallel importing.
Jason Derry, Ph.D., who graduated with honors from DePaul University
College of Law, is a molecular biologist and founding author of Patent Docs.
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