Late last month, the Swiss government issued a statement in which Thailand was criticized for issuing compulsory licenses for various medications over the past year or more. These included AIDS drugs sold by Merck and Abbott Labs; the Plavix blood thinner marketed by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb; and four cancer meds sold by Novartis, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis.

“Switzerland is convinced that patents are part of the solution to long-term access to innovative medicines in Thailand,” the statement reads. But compulsory licenses “will endanger access to innovative pharmaceuticals and thus weaken public health. Also, a broad use of compulsory licenses may have a detrimental effect on foreign direct investments” on manufacturing pharmaceuticals in Thailand.

Such sentiment is hardly surprising, given that Roche and Novartis are both headquartered in Switzerland. The statement was issued just as Thailand’s newly elected government was about to review the policy of the previous military government, which argued the licenses had to be issued because most of Thailand’s population couldn’t afford the medications. Since then, the new government decided to continue the policy, despite lobbying by pharma, which has asked the US Trade Rep to review Thailand’s status. A decision is expected in April.

Belated hat tip to James Love