REFILE-UPDATE 1-Abbott makes AIDS drug offer to Thailand

(Corrects first paragraph to replace dropped article "a" prior to "heat-stable form of a new AIDS drug")

BANGKOK, April 23 (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories Inc. (ABT.N) offered to sell a heat-stable form of a new AIDS drug in Thailand, reversing a controversial boycott to protest the country's use of patent laws to import cheaper medicines.

Abbott, criticized for aggressive pricing of its AIDS medicines in developing countries, has proposed selling the newer heat-stable drug, Aluvia, for $1000 per patient per year. That matches an offer Abbott made earlier this month to about 40 low and middle-income countries.

Thai Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla said on Monday it is mulling the offer, which hinges on a concession that Thailand not issue a compulsory license allowing for purchase or production of generic versions of Aluvia.

It comes weeks after Abbott refused to launch Aluvia in Thailand to protest the government's January override of an international patent on Kaletra.

"They have proposed some price cuts for Aluvia tablets, but nothing has been concluded," Mongkol told Reuters.

Mongkol declined to say whether Thailand would give such an assurance to the U.S. drug maker. "You have to wait until the negotiation is complete," he said.

AIDS activists had criticized the blocking of Aluvia because it does not require refrigeration like a similar drug called Kaletra, eliminating the need for costly cold storage in poor countries.

But now they fear Thailand will bargain away its rights under World Trade Organization rules to issue a license allowing the manufacture of a patented drug without the consent of a foreign patent owner.