Thai dispute over PReMA member for GPO board

Thailand's Public Health Minister, Chaiya Sasomsap, has been urged to backdown on another pharmaceutical-related issue, with his proposal to appoint the president of the country's Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA), Teera Chakajnarodom, to the Government Pharmaceutical Organization's 15-member board of directors. Such a move would put Thailand's staunchest opponent of compulsory drug licensing in an oversight position over the publicly-funded company which is charged with implementing the patent-busting policy.

Already, Mr Chaiya was been forced to abandon plans to stop the GPO from importing HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular and cancer drugs listed under a compulsory license policy announced by the previous military-supported government (Marketletters passim). Four of the oncology drugs under threat of compulsory licensing are produced by three drug majors: Swizerland-headquarted Novartis' aromatase inhibitor Femara (letrozole) for breast cancer and leukemia drug Glivec/Gleevec (imatinib), fellow Swiss Roche-marketed lung cancer agent Tarceva (erlotinib) and the France-based Sanofi-Aventis' breast and lung cancer agent Taxotere (docetaxel).