[At the] World Health Organization's Assembly...annual meeting..., there's something missing: the cascade of countries that were predicted to follow Thailand and Brazil down the path of seizing drug patents. It wasn't for lack of encouragement... Thailand's health minister, Dr. Mongkol Na Songkhla...[won] applause from packs of anti-intellectual property activists such Doctors Without Borders. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton even chimed in... The implication, as always, is that drug companies are squeezing poor countries in order to fill their corporate coffers... In fact, the pharmaceutical companies...tier their drug pricing: They expect to lose money in poor places like Africa, break even in middle-income countries like Thailand, and subsidize the rest from rich countries like the United States... By exploiting vague language in the World Trade Organization's intellectual property agreement, Dr. Mongkol browbeat Abbott Laboratories into reducing the price of its HIV/AIDS drug, Kaletra. Brazil followed suit... Given that track record, you'd think a veritable gaggle of countries would be itching to try the same tactics at the WHO's World Health Assembly this week. But you'd be wrong... [Brazil & Thailand's] proposed referendum to ask the WHO to publicly endorse their actions was watered down, we're told -- by the Chinese. The ringing silence is an indication that most countries understand what Thailand doesn't: that drug innovation isn't free... By refusing to call on the WHO to support Thailand's actions, WHO members issued a quiet rebuke. [refers to drug patents held by Merck, Abbott Laboratories, Sanofi-Aventis]