Blood money: Bayer's inventory of HIV-contaminated blood products and third world hemophiliacs.
This article presents an overlooked case of research misconduct and violations of basic principles of medical and business ethics. When Bayer's Cutter Laboratories realized that their blood products, Factor VIII and IX or antihemophiliac factor (AHF), were contaminated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the financial investment in the product was considered too high to destroy the inventory. Cutter misrepresented the results of its own research and sold the contaminated AHF to overseas markets in Asia and Latin America without the precaution of heat treating the product recommended for eliminating the risk. As a consequence, hemophiliacs who infused the HIV-contaminated Factor VIII and IX tested positive for HIV and developed AIDS.
a Department of Philosophy , California State University , Ns , California , USA.
Leemon
L
McHenry
Mellad
M
Khoshnood
D001208:Asia; D003906:Developing Countries; D004340:Drug Contamination; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000941:ethics*; D005169:Factor VIII / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America; D015871:Scientific Misconduct / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence
D005169:Factor VIII
AIDS; Bayer; Cutter Laboratories; Third World; antihemophiliac factor (AHF); hemophilia; hepatitis; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)