The path has been cleared for the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) to produce one million tablets a month of the antiviral medicine Favipiravir after the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) rejected a request by a company to patent the drug here.
Withoon Danwiboon, GPO managing director, on Thursday thanked the health minister, commerce minister, DIP and everyone else involved for working together to find a solution to the kingdom's potential Favipiravir shortage.
Vuttikrai Leewiraphan, DIP director-general, ruled on Wednesday that a manufacturer should not be allowed to patent the drug in its tablet form because that did not constitute an advanced invention under the 1979 Patent Act.
Mr Vuttikrai said nobody could claim exclusive rights to produce or sell Favipiravir in Thailand and anyone -- the GPO or any private company in Thailand -- was free to produce it. The law allows the unsuccessful applicant to appeal against the department's decision within 60 days and if none is forthcoming the ruling will stand as final.
Reports say Japanese pharmaceutical company Fujifilm Toyama Chemical recently filed to patent a preparation of the drug after a previous patent expired in 2019.
The GPO is developing its own version of Favipiravir to boost the kingdom's supply and reduce dependence on imports.
More than 300,000 tablets made by the GPO have been used in trials which are expected to be completed in July before the formula can be registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The GPO will only be allowed to sell its own Favipiravir tablets when its formula is approved by the FDA. It then expects to be able to produce at least one million tablets per month and then expand its capacity to meet the rising demand.
Currently, the GPO has ordered the ingredients it needs to make the tablets from four suppliers in India and one in China, said Dr Withoon. The GPO is also working with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and the national oil and gas conglomerate PTT in a research and development project to make the Favipiravir ingredients.
Dr Withoon yesterday received a further one million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The doses will be handed over to the Department of Disease Control to administer to priority groups.
Thailand has now imported 3.5 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. A further 500,000 doses donated by China will arrive next week, and two million bought by the GPO will be delivered later this month.
