Despite a flurry of international criticism, Abbott Laboratories will not back away from its controversial decision to withhold drug applications in Thailand, Chief Executive Miles White told AIDS activists at the company's annual shareholder meeting Friday.
White lashed out at the activists for being misinformed about Abbott's situation as he reiterated the North Chicago-based company's determination to protect its intellectual property. His comments were his strongest since the medical products giant became embroiled in a dispute with Thai officials over pricing of the AIDS drug Kaletra and Thailand's efforts to make generic copies of the medicine that effectively would break Abbott's patent protection.
Thailand earlier this year said that it could not afford the price Abbott charges for Kaletra, and planned to use a provision of international trade law that would have allowed it to skirt Kaletra's patent protection and choose other companies to copy the drug. That move represented a significant challenge to Abbott's patent protections.
Abbott countered by announcing that it would not register any newly developed drugs in Thailand, depriving that country of a new form of Kaletra that -- in contrast to the current form -- does not require refrigeration.
AIDS activists have condemned Abbott's action as "blackmail," suggesting that withholding the Kaletra that does not require refrigeration is putting patients' health at risk. Given Thailand's hot climate and underdeveloped health-care infrastructure, many people do not have access to Abbott's AIDS drugs, the activists charge.
More at The Trib
White lashed out at the activists for being misinformed about Abbott's situation as he reiterated the North Chicago-based company's determination to protect its intellectual property. His comments were his strongest since the medical products giant became embroiled in a dispute with Thai officials over pricing of the AIDS drug Kaletra and Thailand's efforts to make generic copies of the medicine that effectively would break Abbott's patent protection.
Thailand earlier this year said that it could not afford the price Abbott charges for Kaletra, and planned to use a provision of international trade law that would have allowed it to skirt Kaletra's patent protection and choose other companies to copy the drug. That move represented a significant challenge to Abbott's patent protections.
Abbott countered by announcing that it would not register any newly developed drugs in Thailand, depriving that country of a new form of Kaletra that -- in contrast to the current form -- does not require refrigeration.
AIDS activists have condemned Abbott's action as "blackmail," suggesting that withholding the Kaletra that does not require refrigeration is putting patients' health at risk. Given Thailand's hot climate and underdeveloped health-care infrastructure, many people do not have access to Abbott's AIDS drugs, the activists charge.
More at The Trib
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