Effect of Enhanced IPR Provisions in Draft FTAs on Access to Medicines in Thailand

The Thai government is currently involved in negotiating at least two Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)—one directly with the US and the other as a member of ASEAN with the EU. Drafts of both of these agreements have been leaked to the public. As a result, civil society activists are now analyzing the proposed language of the FTAs to determine how it will impact Thai laws and society. This abstract proposes to analyze the intellectual property right (IPR) provisions contained in these draft FTAs and to discuss their negative impacts on access to medicines in Thailand.

Over the past decade, Thailand has fought many successful campaigns to gain greater access to affordable, quality medicines. These progressive campaigns utilized legal tools allowed under the current Thai Patent Law. However, if the draft FTAs are signed by Thailand and then the IPR provisions are incorporated into its Patent Law, this will create huge barriers to future access to medicines campaigns. The draft FTAs create barriers in three main ways, through: stronger intellectual property (IP) rules than what is required under the TRIPS agreement; weaker TRIPS flexibilities options; and greater IP enforcement mechanisms. These new IPR provisions would further complicate current campaigns in Thailand for access to such medicines as second line antiretrovirals and treatment for hepatitis C. Finally, Thai civil society activists are aware of the dangers posed by these two FTAs; thus, they are waging campaigns to counter (and get around) the IPR provisions in the drafts FTAs.