NEW YORK, April 15 (AFP) - Calpers, the largest US public pension scheme, said Tuesday it was sending a letter to British-owned GlaxoSmithKline, urging a major rethink of the company's AIDS medicine policies.
Calpers, which holds nearly 760 million dollars in Glaxo stock, said in a statement that it was pushing the pharmaceutical giant to evaluate its humanitarian programs regarding AIDS drug access in the developing world and to study the voluntary licensing of generic versions of its AIDS drugs.
The letter raises the concern that Glaxo's "corporate behavior" in response to the AIDS pandemic has the potential to damage Glaxo's reputation -- affecting both its reputation and the value of the company's stock, including Calpers' investment of approximately 20.2 million shares.
Glaxo controls an estimated 40 percent of the US AIDS drug market.
In July last year, a leading US AIDS organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, filed suit against Glaxo for alleged antitrust violations.
The group said it was challenging the drug giant's right to "exclude competition" for its anti-viral prescription drugs AZT, Ziagen and 3TC and to price these drugs "well above competitive rates."
Over the past year, AIDS Healthcare Foundation officials have testified several times before the Calpers board, asking that Glaxo be pressured into justifying its AIDS drug pricing in the developing world publicly.
"While Calpers clearly has a fiduciary interest in Glaxo's performance, we are heartened that they also showed their humanitarian concern voting unanimously to press Glaxo to act on these issues," AIDS Healthcare Foundation's director of advocacy, Terri Ford, said in a statement.
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