The bold Thai health minister who rattled big pharma will step aside after next month’s election…A year ago, Thailand sent shockwaves around the pharmaceutical world when it announced it would issue a compulsory license for the patented AIDS drug[s]...Even though Mongkol’s term will end…he is not slowing down. The minister…has threatened to issue compulsory licenses for cancer-fighting drugs…But Mongkol is not just sticking it to foreign drug companies. He has also proposed regulations that would break [Thailand’s Government Pharmaceutical Organization's] monopoly on selling drugs to local hospitals - raising the ire of the state enterprise’s union…Most analysts doubt that any party will reverse what Mongkol achieved over the past year, but they also doubt that the next minister will be as aggressive…[refers also to Merck, Abbott Laboratories, Novartis, Hetero Drugs]