February 2, 2008
Bangkok - Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis will offer free Imatinib Mesylate drug in exchange for no compulsory licenses.
The government already overrode patents for popular heart drug Plavix and two key AIDS medicines -- Kaletra and Efavirenz -- and has threatened to expand its generic programmes to include cancer drugs, including Gleevec, according to AFP.
Thai cancer patients with an annual household income of less than 1.7 million baht (51,000 dollars) are eligible to receive free Gleevec.
Currently, Gleevec costs about 130,000 baht (4,000 dollars) per patient per month.
Activists have hailed Thailand's drive for copycat drugs as a "beacon" for other developing nations seeking to provide treatments to the poor.
Gleevec offers effective treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia and gastro-intestinal stromal tumor.
Novartis donates its anti-cancer drug to low-income patients in the Gleevec International Patient Assistance Program (GIPAP) which is run by the Max Foundation.
All Thai gold cardholders will be able to access the anti-cancer drug more after Novartis’s proposal.
