Bangkok, March 18:

Thailand’s health minister has threatened to expand the country’s generic drug programme to include cancer and more AIDS medications, unless pharmaceutical firms sharply cut their prices.

In an interview with AFP, Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla said he was undeterred by the fierce resistance from drugmakers to his drive to issue so-called “compulsory licences” for high-priced medications.

“I will continue to negotiate with drug companies” to reduce prices of AIDS, cancer and heart disease medications, Mongkol told AFP. “But if negotiations fail, we are ready to act,” the 65-year-old general practitioner said.

Under the rules of the World Trade Organisation, countries are allowed to order compulsory licenses that temporarily suspend patents and clear the way for generic drugs to protect public health in an emergency.

Few countries have actually used this provision.

But since Mongkol was appointed as health minister by the military after a coup, he has jolted the pharmaceutical industry by allowing generic versions of two anti-AIDS drugs — Efavirenz and Kaletra — and popular heart disease medicine Plavix.

The decision drew outrage from the industry with Thailand’s top pharmaceutical group calling it “a stunning blow” to foreign investment already hit by political uncertainty since the coup.

“This is unprecedented in Thailand. If the government decides to allow more generic drugs, it will further damage the image of Thailand among international investors,” said Teera Chakajnardom, president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturer’s Association of Thailand.

Angered by Mongkol’s decision, US drug giant Abbott Laboratories, the maker of AIDS drug Kaletra, said this week it would stop selling new drugs to Thailand.