Head of GlaxoSmithKline Promises to Sell AIDS Drugs at Cost in Developing Nations
The head of pharmaceutical maker GlaxoSmithKline said Tuesday at a conference of global health care executives in Orlando, Fla., that his company will sell its AIDS drugs at cost in poor countries, according to an AIDS Healthcare Foundation release. J.P. Garnier, CEO of GSK, said, "We commit to not making a profit" in poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. AIDS activists "welcomed" the announcement but are "taking a wait-and-see attitude." Cesar Portillo, a spokesperson for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said, "We're gratified to hear the pledge, but with drugs priced twice as high as their competition, we'd like to see GSK back this pledge with numbers that prove it" (AIDS Healthcare Foundation release, 2/27). Earlier this month, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) held a number of media events and ran a newspaper advertisement urging GSK to lower the price of its antiretroviral drugs for developing countries (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/14).
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