The dreams of Indian pharma majors to reap a windfall from the life saving drugs market in Thailand, following the Thai government?s issue of compulsory license, is set to hit a major roadblock.
Emcure Pharmaceuticals, the first company which bagged a major order from the Thai government to supply clopidogrel, the copycat version of the blockbuster cardiac drug, Plavix, is being threatened by the US drug giant, Sanofi-Aventis, the patent holder of Plavix, with legal action.
Sanofi-Aventis is learnt to have threatened Emcure to take legal action against the Indian company if it supplies copycat versions of Plavix to the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), a company owned by the Thai government.
On August 25, FE had reported the Thai government’s move to award order to Emcure to supply generic clopidogrel to GPO.
In the notice to Bioscience Co Ltd, the agency of Emcure in Thailand, Sanofi-Aventis said that any unauthorised importation, manufacture and sale of the generic clopidogrel will infringe Sanofi?s patent rights of clopidogrel under the Thai law.
?In the event of infringement of our patent, Sanofi will be entitled to sue the company in a civil action for compensation,? the company said. When contacted, Emcure officials refused to comment. However, what comes as a shot in the arm for Emcure is the support from Thai government.
According to Vichai Chokevivat, chairman of the GPO board, Sanofi’s notice is the latest attempt by the drug giant to obstruct Thailand’s compulsory licensing moves.
Chokevivat is reported to have said that Sanofi?s threat will not affect the procurement agreement, in which a first batch of 2 million heart drug tablets will be shipped in two months. He informed that the ministry had officially declared its policy on the compulsory licensing of Plavix.
The imported clopidogrel costs one baht (3 US cents) per tablet, much cheaper than the current market price of 70 baht ($2) each.
About 350 out of every one lakh people are heart patients in Thailand. Each year, Thailand imported 20 million pills of clopidogrel, which only 20% of Thai patients can afford.
