UPDATE: Thailand negotiations on drug prices continue

Thailand's Food and Drug Administration has reported on the progress of talks with two drug majors, France's Sanofi-Aventis and Switzerland-based Roche. FDA Secretary General Siriwat Tiptaradol told the Bangkok Post that three options had been presented to the firms: voluntary prices cuts to an "acceptable level;" voluntary licensing with the Thai Government Pharmaceutical Organization (which has been criticized over its performance in the production of antiretrovirals; Marketletters passim); or compulsory licensing.

CL is "last resort" for Thai Democrats but could also "get first priority"

Meanwhile, the Democrat party of Thailand has promised to continue the present military-backed government's compulsory licensing of patented drugs if it wins elections due on December 23, the first since last year's coup d'etat. The party's health and welfare policy spokesman, Buranat Samuttarak, appeared to be close to the consensus view, telling a seminar on widening access to patented drugs that "we must apply CL as a way to solve the problem of high drugs prices. Although party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva once said that CL would only be the last resort, it is highly possible that the last resort will get the first priority."