AEGiS-PRn: Opening Arguments Will Begin Wednesday in New Orleans Against Four Pharmaceutical Companies Which Plaintiffs Allege Knowingly Sold AIDS-Tainted Blood Products to Hemophiliacs

AEGiS-PRn: Opening Arguments Will Begin Wednesday in New Orleans Against Four Pharmaceutical Companies Which Plaintiffs Allege Knowingly Sold AIDS-Tainted Blood Products to Hemophiliacs - Thousands Have Died

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Opening Arguments Will Begin Wednesday in New Orleans Against Four Pharmaceutical Companies Which Plaintiffs Allege Knowingly Sold AIDS-Tainted Blood Products to Hemophiliacs - Thousands Have Died

PRNewswire - Tuesday November 3, 1998

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- A trial concerning "Hemophiliac AIDS Cases" began Monday in State Judge Max N. Tobias Jr.'s Court (Division "L," Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans) in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Attorneys for the first of 7 cases being tried allege that fractionators: ALPHA THERAPEUTICS/GREEN CROSS; ARMOUR PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY/RHONE POULENC RORER/CENTEON/REVLON; BAYER CORPORATION/CUTTER BIOLOGICAL a division of MILES, INC.; HYLAND THERAPEUTICS, a division of BAXTER HEALTHCARE CORPORATION knowingly provided a blood-derived product which was contaminated with diseases, including Hepatitis and the AIDS virus, to thousands of hemophiliacs. Of the seven cases being tried, two victims have died and five are injured.

By pooling plasma from thousands of paid blood donors, Alpha, Armour, Bayer and Baxter manufactured concentrates of Factor VIII, a protein necessary for the normal coagulation of blood, which they marketed and sold to treat or control hemophilia.

Plaintiffs allege these companies failed to screen out blood obtained from high risk donors (prisoners, intravenous drug users and male homosexuals) who were at high risk of infection with transmissible viruses including Hepatitis and HIV and whose plasma byproducts should not have been used for treatment of hemophiliacs.

As a direct result of the intravenous use of these plasma byproducts, these victims were exposed to transmissible viruses including the AIDS virus, HIV. Thousands of hemophiliacs are now very ill, dying or have died.

FACT SHEET AVAILABLE BY CALLING ROBIN McCALL AT 800-827-0087 IN LOS ANGELES.

SOURCE: Baum, Hedlund, Aristei, Guilford & Downey
981103
PR981102

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