Thai investigators sift through Phuket plane wreck

I love Thailand and Phuket. Some reports say perhaps 90% of the passengers (100) died. This is a blow to Thai tourism and a ghastly blow to the friends and families of the dead and injured.

Thai air investigators sifted though the wreckage on Monday of a budget airliner that crashed on the resort isle of Phuket, killing 88 people as it broke up while trying to land in driving rain.

As well as looking for clues as to why the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 veered off the runway and smashed into a densely wooded embankment, rescue workers still have to recover five bodies from the wreckage.

Both pilots were killed, deputy transport minister Sansern Wong-Chaum said, but 42 people survived a crash that is likely to raise more safety questions for the dozens of budget carriers that have sprung up across Asia in the last decade.

Five survivors were in critical condition, with burns to 60 percent of their bodies, hospital officials said.

The "black box" flight data recorder has been recovered and much of the investigation is likely to focus on the weather conditions as the plane, flown by Bangkok-based low-cost operator One-Two-Go, was coming in to land.

"We will have to wait for the actual cause of the accident. We will send the black box to the United States. It will take one week to analyse," Sansern told Thailand's Channel 7 television.

Survivors spoke of torrential rain and trees bent over in the wind, and several accounts suggested the pilot attempted to land, but then aborted.

"The pilot tried to bring the plane back up. He started to turn right and made a sharp turn right and then the plane went into the embankment," Millie Furlong, a 23-year-old waitress from Canada, told Reuters in hospital.

"I saw the grass and knew we were going to crash. It was very quick."

Via Reuters.

Thailand braced for leap into political unknown

King Bhumibol Adulyadej

Now this is scary. With the military in control, the Thai government was shaky enough and now this.

Thailand is braced for a leap into the unknown this week as a court decides whether to disband the country's top two parties and ban their leaders from politics for breaching election laws.

Fears are widespread the verdicts on Wednesday may escalate the coup-prone nation's political uncertainty into chaos.

Those fears were laid out starkly by King Bhumibol Adulyadej when he summoned top judges to warn them whatever decisions the Constitutional Tribunal made would upset somebody.

"Whatever the verdict will be, it will bring damage to the country. Whatever direction it will take, it will be erroneous," he said in a 15-minute speech to the judges.

The words of the monarch, who is genuinely revered, prompted the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the Democrat Party to promise restraint.

"There will be people who are unhappy with the verdicts and will protest on the street, but I don't think there will be hundreds of thousands," Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said.

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Merck cuts price of Efavirenz in Thailand

If you believe this bullshit I'd like to talk to you about some choice land I have for sale in Louisiana's swamps.

Merck & Co. announced on Thursday price cuts for its HIV-AIDS drug, Efavirenz, in poor countries and those hard hit by the disease, including Thailand which plans to make copycat versions of the medicine.

Thailand, which shocked Merck in November when it announced plans to break the company's patent for Efavirenz, would see its price drop to 700 baht ($19.59) per patient per month.

Merck had previously sold Efavirenz at a non-profit price of 1,300 baht per treatment per month in Thailand, which plans to import Indian-made versions of the drug for 800 baht per month until it is available from Thailand's state-owned drug maker.

"Merck is lowering the price of the 600 mg formulation of Efavirenz due to efficiencies resulting from improved manufacturing processes," the company said.

A spokesman for Merck's Thai subsidiary also attributed the lower Thai price to a more favourable exchange rate.

I love it when corporations try to espouse how benevolent they are and how they're really concerned about people. Truth is, Merck would be unable to make any money in Thailand on Efavirenz if Thailand broke the patent. So they're just salvaging what they can. They're attempting to preserve some market share. This isn't rocket science. Companies work all the angles. Some income is better than none.

Let me go on record here. I don't think big pharma has an obligation to save people at their expense. I do feel they should take a financial hit in some situations. HIV-AIDS can't be cured. Merck's drugs just prolong life. For now that's the best we have. Jack up the prices a little on other drugs and give the HIV-AIDS drugs for free. Humanitarianism ain't a bad thing.

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