Pharmaceutical Giants Knowingly Sold HIV-Infected Treatment to NHS

In a distressing exposé, Cara McGoogan, author of The Poison Line: Life and Death in the Infected Blood Scandal, reveals in the Telegraph that pharmaceutical companies deliberately supplied an HIV-infected medical treatment to the NHS. Here’s an excerpt:

Internal documents from American pharmaceutical companies show they knew a “wonder drug” made from human plasma could transmit HIV to patients, but they sold it regardless.

Some 1,250 people in the U.K. contracted HIV in the 70s and 80s from Factor VIII, a treatment for the bleeding disorder haemophilia. Up to 5,000 more also contracted hepatitis C.

The Infected Blood Inquiry will report later this month on mistakes that allowed Factor VIII contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C to be imported into the U.K. and prescribed to patients on the NHS.

Survivors who have been seeking justice for 40 years expect the final report on May 20th to be critical of Factor VIII manufacturers, successive governments and doctors. The report will also explain how as many as 26,800 people contracted hepatitis C from blood transfusions.

When the first three people with haemophilia came down with AIDS in the U.S. in July 1982, the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) warned the fatal illness could be caused by a blood-borne agent in Factor VIII. 

In December 1982, Bayer’s Cutter Laboratories discovered chimpanzees had developed AIDS-like symptoms after also being treated with Factor VIII, according to an internal memo. However, the company didn’t warn patients about the potential risks.

As the dangers became clear, Bayer kept selling Factor VIII.

Having created a safer, heat-treated version without viruses in February 1984, Bayer continued to sell the HIV and hepatitis C-contaminated Factor VIII until August 1985.

The U.K. kept prescribing the dangerous version of Factor VIII until late 1985, and it never recalled it from hospitals.

Cutter rejected the idea of recalling its infected Factor VIII from Asian countries in 1984 because it could cost “up to $2 million worth of sales”, according to documents published in The Poison Line: Life and Death in the Infected Blood Scandal.

A year later, the company’s marketing plan said, “AIDS has not become a major issue in Asia”. The company outlined how it would dump the infected product in countries including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Argentina. It added that “hysteria over AIDS could reduce our sales by as much as $400,000”.

In another case, Revlon Healthcare-owned Armour Pharmaceuticals suppressed evidence from 1985 to 1986 that HIV had been discovered in its “safe” version of Factor VIII, which had been heat-treated to kill viruses. Rather than withdrawing the faulty product from sale, the company deemed the problem a “marketing issue” and covered it up.

Six patients in the U.K. contracted HIV from that version of Factor VIII which had been licensed as safe from blood-borne viruses.

Worth reading in full.