April 2- Growing controversies over Fuzeon and Sprycel, which have not been provided in Korea as pharmaceutical companies and Korean government could not reach an agreement over drug price, continue. Thus, the NHRCK hosted a seminar on Compulsory Licensing (“CL”) of Essential Drugs on April 2, 2009 to examine the possibility of compulsive licensing as an option to protect the right to life and the right to health of patients.
The CL can be implemented if patentees do not allow using patents against public interests. Governments can void the patents for a specific period of time and permit others to use the patents in case of state emergencies and for public interests. Although Korean patent law as well as the Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights allows the CL’s implementation, the Korean government has not yet permitted the CL.
In the seminar, Doctors Yot Teerawattananon and Sripen Tantiveness presented research on the experience of Thailand where the CL of seven essential drugs were permitted, following the presentations of professor Lim Joon (Department of Preventive Medicine, Gachon University of Medicine and Science) and public interest lawyer Jeong Jeong-hoon.
