Social Consequences of Compulsory Licensing of Antiretroviral Drugs in ThailandKusawadee Maluangnon, Cha-onsin Sooksriwong, Chaiyos Kunanusont,Arayan Trangarn
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Compulsory licensing of antiretroviral drugs, an option for generic drug procurement under WTO agreement, becomes the public interest because of humanitarian reason. The objective of this study was to evaluate social consequences of compulsory licensing of antiretroviral drugs in Thailand. An in-depth interview of fifteen experts was performed between January and February 2003 to gather the opinion about the consequences of compulsory licensing of antiretroviral drugs in five dimensions including:1) patients and society 2) economics 3) technology 4) politics 5) foreign direct investment and international trade and political relationship. According to experts’ opinion, compulsory licensing of antiretroviral drugs may create both opsitive and negative impacts to society, economics, and technology. The great benefit to the society would be due to an increase in accessibility to antiretroviral drugs as well as preventing economic burden from high value of the imported drugs. However, the negative impacts also occur to foreign direct investment, international trade, and political relationships among industrial countries. To increase to accessibility to antiretroviral drugs, policy-makers need to judge carefully between to benefits and shortcomings. © All right reserved.
Keyword:
Compulsory Licensing ,Antiretroviral Drugs ,Compulsory Licensing of Antiretroviral Drugs ,Compulsory Licensing of Antiretroviral Drugs
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