By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK, Sep 24 (Reuters) - Thailand, which has overridden international patents on three drugs in the past year, plans to issue four more licences for copycat versions of cancer medicines, Health Ministry officials said on Monday.

The government would impose compulsory licences on four drugs sold by Novartis <NOVN.VX>, Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> and Roche <ROG.VX> if negotiations with the global pharmaceutical giants to lower prices failed, they said.

"We have picked these four drugs because patients have great difficulties to access them; they are very expensive," Sanguan Nitayarumphong, head of the ministry's agency responsible for free treatment for the poor, told Reuters.

"If the negotiations with the drug firms fail, we will have to declare compulsory licensing," Sanguan said.

Previous compulsory licences on HIV/AIDS and heart disease drugs, which Thailand says are legal under World Trade Organisation rules, drew flak from big drug makers, Washington and Brussels, but applause from HIV/AIDS advocacy groups.

Shortly after that, Bangkok began talks with makers of two HIV/AIDS drugs and a heart medicine on which it issued compulsory licences, Abbott Laboratories <ABT.N>, Merck & Co. <MRK.N> and Sanofi-Aventis, to lower the prices, but made no progress.

Sanguan said the four cancer treatment drugs, which his panel recommended for price talks, were Imanitib, Docetaxel, Erlotinib and Letrozole, because cancers were the number-one killer in Thailand.

Imanitib, marketed by Novartis as Gleevec in the United States and Glivec in Europe, is used to treat leukaemia and gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

Docetaxel, sold as Taxotere by Sanofi-Aventis, is used to treat lung cancer, ovarian cancer and breast cancers, while Erlotinib, marketed as Tarceva by Roche, is used to treat lung, pancreatic and other types of cancers.

Letrozole, sold as Femara by Novartis, is used to treat breast cancer and Sanguan said a generic version cost 6 baht (19 U.S. cents) a tablet, 40 times cheaper than the patented one.

"There have been reports of families of lung cancer patients flying to India to buy the generic version of Erlotinib because the patented drug cost 100,000 baht a month," Sanguan said.

Teera Chakajnarodom, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers' Association of Thailand, told Reuters he was surprised by the move as Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, he said, had promised not to impose more compulsory licences.

"Compulsory licensing is not the long-term solution to tackle access problem since there are always new drugs for new diseases and these drugs cost a lot of money to develop," Teera said. ($1 = 31.70 baht)

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