Having succeeded in producing cheap generic drugs
to help people with HIV/AIDS enjoy longer lives, Thailand is now
ready with generics capable of helping its citizens fight the potential
onslaught of another deadly virus -- bird flu.
The announcement by Thai scientists that they
now have a generic version of Tamiflu, the only known anti-viral
drug capable of stopping an epidemic of avian influenza, could not
have been better timed. It offers hope for cheaper treatment just
as the country is grappling with a virulent outbreak of the H5N1
strain of the virus in its poultry population, after a seven-month
lull.
''It will not be for commercial purposes. This
is for our security, to have the tablets available,'' Dr. Sirirerk
Songsivilai, deputy director of the national science and technology
development agency, told IPS. ''We have the capacity to produce
it locally and we want to increase our stockpile.''
''This success will help Thailand in (the event)
of a bird flu outbreak if Tamiflu is in short supply,'' Dr. Mongkol
Jiwasantikarn, director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation
(GPO), was quoted as having told 'The Nation' newspaper on Friday.
The GPO, a state agency, has been at the vanguard
of producing cheap generic drugs for Thai patients. In 2002, it
added to its impressive record by offering a generic version of
anti-AIDS drugs that cost 30 US dollars for a course of medicines
per month. At the time, a monthly dosage of anti-AIDS drugs produced
by the pharmaceutical giants in the industrialised world and sold
here amounted to 450 dollars.
On Thursday, when this latest Thai success was
announced at a press conference, the GPO also confirmed how cheaper
the local drug would be. The generic drug, to be made available
through the public hospitals, will cost 70 baht (1.85 dollar) per
capsule, almost half the price of the brand-name version of Tamiflu,
which costs 120 baht (3.15 dollars) per capsule.
The period that the two Thai scientists took to
produce this generic anti-viral drug - six months -- saw concerns
being expressed in many quarters about the world having an inadequate
supply of the patented version of Tamiflu, produced by the Swiss
pharmaceutical giant Roche. That followed pressure on Roche to give
up its right to hold the Tamiflu patent. The Swiss manufacturer's
critics, including a ranking member of the Senate, saw such attempts
to defend the right of the Tamiflu patent in the wake of a possible
pandemic triggered by bird flu as a blatant display of a multinational
placing profits over the lives of people.
For developing countries in South-east Asia, the
epicenter of the deadly virus, such concern about the short supply
of Tamiflu was further heightened when they were sidelined by the
richer countries in the West to buy out the limited supply of the
brand-name anti-viral that Roche had on offer.
