French Firm Says Makes Offer in Thai Drug Talks - World - Economy

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis has offered wider access to its heart disease medicine Plavix in Thailand.

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis has offered wider access to its heart disease medicine Plavix in Thailand, where the army-backed government plans to make a generic version of the drug, the company said on Tuesday.

It gave few details of the offer made to senior officials of Health Ministry, which approved plans to buy or make copycat versions of Plavix in January.

"The company offered to enlarge access to Plavix for low-income Thai patients for whom it is considered essential and who are not currently receiving the drug," Sanofi-Aventis said in a statement.

A Thai health official quoted by the Bangkok Post newspaper said the company had offered a "special quota" of 3.4 million Plavix tablets for 34,000 patients.

Thailand's post-coup government shocked the drug industry last November when it decided to override the patent on Efavirenz, an HIV/AIDS treatment made by Merck & Co.

It later issued licences for Plavix, the first by a developing country for such a drug, and Kaletra, an HIV/AIDS drug made by U.S. pharmaceuticals giant Abbott Laboratories.

Abbott responded by refusing to launch new medicines in Thailand, triggering a backlash from AIDS activists who accused the company of an "immoral act".

No other drug company has followed Abbott's lead, although Germany's Bayer said earlier this month it fully supported Abbott's decision.

Drug companies are sensitive to such moves because they say they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development of new drugs before they come to the market.

"The best way to find solutions to difficult health care challenges is to reject confrontation and engage in constructive dialogue with a view to increasing private and public sector partnership," Fabrice Baschiera, general manager of Sanofi-Aventis in Thailand, said in the statement.

Under a variety of circumstances, World Trade Organization rules allow governments to issue compulsory licenses, allowing others to produce a patented drug without the consent of a foreign patent owner.

But Thailand has mounted the strongest challenge yet to big drug companies by targeting "essential medicines" it says are too costly for the country's national health care programme.