These are some notes on some of the new Wikileaks cables. (Much more at http://keionline.org/wikileaks)

May 18, 2009. Pfizer meets asks US embassy to intervene in Philippines debate over drug prices. Embassy agrees to tell Philippines government that "imposition of price controls . . . would be unacceptable.."

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/05/09MANILA1060.html

Subject: Health Department Patent Remedies to Cut Drug Prices

¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Philippine Department of Health is close to
ordering pharmaceutical companies to stop marketing their products
with discount cards, seeking to require companies instead to sell to
all customers at the lowest price already available. The pending
order may stem from frustration among legislators that the year-old
Cheaper Medicines Act has not led to lower retail drug prices, and
particularly from Senator Manuel Roxas' desire to kick-start his
presidential campaign. End summary.

¶3. (SBU) The Philippine Congress passed the Cheaper Medicines Act
in May 2008. On this first anniversary, media and legislators have
noted that the retail prices of drugs have not fallen over the past
year. Political pressure is again building for lower drug prices.
During a May 12 hearing, Senator Manuel Roxas, the sponsor of the
Cheaper Medicines Act and a 2010 presidential candidate, told
Department of Health officials he was giving them two weeks to lower
medicine prices. Soon afterward, the Health Department seized upon
banning discount cards and requiring drugs to be sold at the
discounted price as a quick fix.

¶4. (SBU) Pharmaceutical companies have expressed varying degrees of
worry about the proposal. Pfizer, whose marketing in the
Philippines centers almost exclusively upon its discount card,
requested a meeting with Embassy to seek our intervention. Pfizer
claims that over 80% of its local sales are to cardholders.
GlaxoSmithKline also uses discount cards in the marketing of its
patented medicines, although with off-patent drugs, its strategy
focuses upon direct price reductions. Merck told us that when the
Department of Health banned new card-based discount programs in
2005, it saw the writing on the wall and began to wind down its card
program.

¶5. (SBU) While Pfizer, due to its marketing strategy, is the most
affected, all three companies complained of their frustration with
repeated arbitrary policy changes by the Department of Health.
GlaxoSmithKline pointed out that the Health Department card policy
would establish maximum retail prices on specific brands, but
according to the Cheaper Medicines Act, only the President can
impose price controls and they must be placed upon classes of drugs
based upon the compounds in them.

¶6. (SBU) Comment: Senator Roxas can be counted upon to continue
pressing for quick pharmaceutical price reductions, as the passage
of the Cheaper Medicines Act is one of the key accomplishments he
points to in preparing for the presidential run. We will ensure in
upcoming meetings with government officials that they realize that
we are interested in the issue and that such extra-legal actions as
imposition of price controls via arbitrary Department of Health
actions would be unacceptable.

Thailand. 20 March 2009. Prime Minister Abhisit assured U.S. ASEAN Business Council that his administration will be "pro-business" and stated that compulsory licenses are a "last resort" measure, but pharma still recommended that Thailand be downgranded to Priority Foreign Country (PFC).
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/03/09BANGKOK707.html

Subject: Prime Minister Abhisit Engages With American Business

¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva assured a U.S.ASEAN Business Council (USABC) delegation on March 4 that his administration would continue to be "pro-business," even in these difficult economic times. Abhisit also announced the creation of a "one-start shop" within the Prime Minister's office to answer business concerns and coordinate the resolutions among the various ministries. As part of an ASEAN regional outreach mission, 37 American business representatives met with ten government ministers, in addition to the Prime Minister himself, during their visit to Bangkok, March 2-4. The delegation also met with Ambassador John and said how pleased they were with the engagement and responsiveness of Abhisit's new government on business issues. This year's delegation consisted of U.S. companies: Abbott, AIG, APCO, Caterpillar, Chevron, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips, Ford, GE, Guardian, JHPIEGO, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Microsoft, Monsanto, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Rockwell Collins, Time Warner and UPS. END SUMMARY.

¶2. (SBU) COMMENT: The Abhisit administration has placed a priority on reaching out to the business community to identify and address longstanding concerns raised by both domestic and international companies, and the American business community has been very pleased with Abhisit's engagement and responsiveness to their concerns. While no outstanding commercial issues have been resolved yet as a result of this engagement, the business community is optimistic that the government is sincere in wanting to address their concerns. END COMMENT.

[. . .]

¶10. (SBU) In response to an Abbott inquiry on the future use of compulsory licenses, Abhisit clearly stated that any future consideration of compulsory licenses would be undertaken as a measure of last resort and this government would only do so in a consultative manner with the rights holders. Abhisit cautioned that if the U.S. continued to place more pressure on Thailand with regards to this issue, that there could be backlash and increased political pressure from health care activists and NGOs to issue more CLs. Abhisit expressed dismay to learn that the pharmaceutical industry had recommended that Thailand be downgraded to Priority Foreign Country (PFC), despite his administration's good faith efforts to improve Thailand's IPR regime.

Thailand. 07 December 2005. Summary of US-Thailand FTA concerns. Noted that industry supported strong FTA patent standards "primarily to help set a precedent for future FTAs in more important markets."

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2005/12/05BANGKOK7526.html
Subject: Pharmaceutical Costs And The Fta

¶33. (U) Despite predictions of skyrocketing drug prices by anti-FTA activists, the long-term outlook in the pharmaceutical industry has not changed. Company reps in Bangkok did not appear to be altering business models in Thailand in anticipation of a U.S.-Thai FTA and did not expect any significant increases in revenue after its passage. Several company reps were unaware an FTA might have provisions that would affect their products. One analyst explained that the industry was supporting the FTA's patent provisions primarily to help set a precedent for future FTAs in more important markets.

¶34. (U) Comment: The debate over access to medicines and FTAs presents a dichotomy of goals: access to cheap and effective medicines for patients who need them now, but incentives for development of innovative drugs for the future as well. The hard truth is that without economic incentives to manufacture an innovative new drug, it won,t be made; if no market exists in Thailand for a new drug to be sold profitably, it won,t be marketed, even by Thai generic manufacturers.

¶35. (U) Inevitably, some drugs would be affected by an FTA and raise overall pharmaceutical costs, though the increased costs of individual drugs could be offset by tariff reductions on pharmaceutical imports overall. Thailand has an advantage in that it has a sizable market for new medicines and can promote competition, and has also developed a strong generic industry to compete with off-patent drugs. Its generic industry's ability to copy most any drug also backs up the occasional threat to issue a compulsory license and helps persuade companies to keep prices lower than they might otherwise. However, Thailand's program to provide HIV medicines to more patients portends a future of skyrocketing health care costs as HIV-positive patients live longer and move on to expensive second-line regimens. The threat of a compulsory license may one day cease to be only a threat.

Algeria. 2009-03-04 Cable says WTO accession no longer motivates Algeria to change IPR laws.

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/03/09ALGIERS228.html
http://www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=09ALGIERS228

Ministry of Health officials . . . informing us in February 2009 that the ministry's priorities in terms of medications are quality, price and access for the greatest number of Algerians.

WTO ACCESSION NO LONGER OFFERS LEVERAGE
---------------------------------------

¶5. (SBU) In the past, we and industry representatives have relied on the notion that WTO accession talks were the best venue to address Algeria's weak IPR enforcement regime. However, it is increasingly clear that Algeria does not feel WTO accession will occur in the near term, and talks over the last 24 months offered little progress on accession itself or on IPR issues. Our new MFA desk officer transferred to Algiers in February from Geneva, where he was responsible for the WTO portfollio. He acknowledged that WTO progress had flatlined for "about a year" and was not optimistic that the accession process would accelerate in the immediate future. While Algeria's legal changes since 2003 regarding TRIPS compliance and other mechanisms were sparked by WTO talks, we see no indication that ongoing, sporadic negotiations will provide the leverage that many observers once hoped for to press Algeria further regarding IPR enforcement.