The Thai government is going after Adelman’s lobbying group.

The country’s Government Pharmaceutical Organization plans to file a $30 million lawsuit against Adelmans’ USA for Innovation for defaming its reputation and its AIDS drug through newspaper advertisements. The GPO’s board unanimously agreed to also pursue the case in the civil court after filing a criminal charge against USA for Innovation last week, board chairman Vichai Chokewiwat tells The Bangkok Post.

USA for Innovation early this month paid for a full-page ad in three Thai newspapers, claiming the organization’s GPO-VIR AIDS med has a very high resistance rate. The ad appeared shortly after the Public Health Ministry issued compulsory licences for Merck’s Efavirenz and Abbott’s Kaletra.

Adelman’s lobbying group has been aggressively criticizing Bangkok in recent weeks. Last month, USA for Innovation issued press releases urging the White House and Congress to get tough with Thailand. Adelman is a current member of the Defense Policy Board, which advises the US Defense Secretary. He’s also a senior counselor at Edelman Public Relations, whose clients include Abbott Labs, which intensified the row with Thailand by threatening to withhold new meds from the country after a compulsory license was issued for Kaletra.

As part of his campaign, Adelman created a web site - Thaimyths.org - and posted a video on his web site in which he accuses the Thai government of censorship. Adelman, however, is very selective when it comes to his audiences - he hasn’t returned phone messages left to discuss his lobbying group.