BBC's 'Guinea Pig Kids' Documentary Fingers Glaxo in Experimental Drug
Scandal; AIDS Healthcare Foundation Calls for Swift FDA Action
What: Media Availability with Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS
Healthcare Foundation (+1-323-810-1238 int'l mobile). In
anticipation of BBC2 documentary 'Guinea Pig Kids' airing
tonight in UK
When: US Availability TUESDAY, NOV 30TH, 8:00 am-12:00 noon EST
Contacts: Michael Weinstein, President, AHF. Mobile: +1-323-810-1238
(from Wash DC)
Marissa Parsons, Public Affairs Coordinator, AHF
(w) 1-323-860-5236, (m) +1-213-842-4000
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the
US' largest AIDS organization, which also operates treatment clinics in
Africa, Central America and Asia, today released this statement in response to
a recent Independent (UK) article reporting that pharmaceutical giant
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will be accused of backing drug trials in the US in
which underprivileged children were forced to test AIDS treatments against
their will. The accusations are lodged in a BBC2 News Documentary scheduled
to air tonight in the UK.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030429/AHFLOGO)
"These are very serious allegations and we will have to wait to see the
facts play out," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare
Foundation. "If this is true, this is a modern day Tuskegee, when African
American men with Syphilis were left untreated by physicians in order to see
how the disease would progress. GSK is being accused of exploiting one of our
most vulnerable populations."
The Independent Online article, published on November 27th, precedes a
BBC2 documentary, 'Guinea Pig Kids,' scheduled to air Tuesday evening, states
that the program implicates GSK in clinical trials forcing AIDS drugs on
deprived children in New York. According to the article the trials have been
taking place under the auspices of the Administration for Children's Services
(ACS), the body that is charged with looking after the welfare of children in
New York. In some cases children were removed from foster homes when foster
parents refused to give children the drugs and in other cases children were
physically forced by ACS to take the drugs. GSK admits that it supplied drugs
for the trials and knew about the clinical trial design but denies direct
involvement. GSK responded by saying the "Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
encouraged the studies and that clinical trials involving children and orphans
are legal and not unusual."
"On the heels of the withdrawal of Vioxx and the flu vaccine shortage,
issues that have been at the forefront of the media, this is yet another
disconcerting red flag that sweeps away any faith that people may have left in
our current system. Even with the layers upon layers of bureaucracy that
surround this issue, from the welfare administration in New York, to the
corrupt drug companies, and now to the FDA -- whose purpose is to ensure safe
and effective drugs for Americans -- we are still not safe. This issue should
be closely scrutinized and necessary action must be taken -- the FDA must
re-examine this issue, and in turn we need to re-examine the effectiveness of
the FDA," said Weinstein.
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SOURCE AIDS Healthcare Foundation
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Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030429/AHFLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Michael Weinstein, President, mobile,
+1-323-810-1238, or Marissa Parsons, Public Affairs Coordinator,
+1-323-860-5236, or mobile, +1-213-842-4000, both of AIDS
Healthcare Foundation
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