Pharma companies including Bayer and Revlon Healthcare knowingly sold blood products contaminated with HIV and Hepatitis C to the British National Health Service, according to a Daily Telegraph investigation. The revelations come as part of a national inquiry into thousands of cases of hemophiliacs who contracted HIV and hepatitis C from infected blood products in the 1970 and 1980s.
Internal documents from Bayer and Revlon Healthcare’s Armour Pharmaceuticals obtained by the Telegraph show that the companies knew in the early 1980s their Factor VIII products were contaminated—but still sold them anyway.
In the case of Bayer, an internal marketing plan in 1985 suggested dumping their HIV-tainted products in Asia, because “AIDS has not become a major issue in Asia.” The company outlined how it would sell the products in countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Argentina.