BAYER pays compensation for HIV-infected people

The Bayer pharmaceutical company pays compensation for HIV-infected hemophiliacs

27.01.2011

The pharmaceutical company Bayer has settled in a settlement on the payment of several million euros as compensation for people suffering from the hemophilia and „Plasma derivative therapies“ Bayer were infected with HIV or hepatitis C, agreed.

Together with three other accused pharmaceutical companies, Bayer AG will pay a double-digit million amount to people with hemophilia who have been diagnosed with hemophilia „Plasma derivative therapy“ infected with HIV or hepatitis C. In addition to Bayer, the companies Baxter, Behring-Aventis and Alpha are also affected. The accused corporations had already reached a settlement in 2009 with an American law firm representing a large number of plaintiffs, but this had yet to be approved and accepted by most of the plaintiffs. The fact that until today no facts about the offered payments became known, is due to the fact that the persons concerned and their lawyers were obligated with the comparison also to silence.

Comparison with HIV-infected hemophiliacs over 50 million euros
According to the organization „Coordination against BAYER dangers, CBG“ The defendant pharmaceutical companies are prepared to pay more than $ 50 million to HIV-infected hemophiliacs from 22 countries who have been infected with the disease through blood plasma products from the companies listed. This equates to an admission of guilt, the CBG evaluated the now known comparison. In several states - including the United States - ran numerous lawsuits against Bayer and the other pharmaceutical companies, „for damages for non-US plaintiffs“, As the statement in the last shareholder letter 2010 of Bayer AG. The plaintiffs accused the corporations of contaminated blood samples during the period 1978-1985 „Plasma derivative therapies“ who infected them with HIV or the hepatitis C virus. The used blood plasma products had been contaminated, so the statement of the plaintiff. As early as 1997, Bayer had paid around EUR 300 million into a compensation fund for blood-borne hemophiliacs after a blood transfusion.

Majority of clients had to accept the settlement
However, on the side of the pharmaceutical companies - in view of the threat of compensation payments - no one could penetrate to a direct admission of guilt. For them, the now known comparison was the cleanest solution. Indeed „Some conditions had to be met before the agreement could come into force“, This is the statement in the shareholder letter of the Bayer Group. This means that the majority of the clients represented by the law firm had to accept the settlement, which according to the company was now done. 90 percent of the plaintiffs had agreed to the settlement, so that it could enter into force. However, HIV-infected hemophiliacs in Germany will not benefit from this. They already receive a monthly pension and were not allowed to participate in the class action, the CBG said. However, some German hemophiliacs who suffer from jaundice are included in the comparison, according to the CBG.

CBG: Corporations blackmail victims into silence
Overall, the comparison makes the life of the affected bloods a little easier, but it can not cure the money. And even if the accused pharmaceutical companies with the settlement almost indirectly acknowledge their guilt, is the parallel imposed secrecy in the opinion of the CBG more than questionable. Philipp Mimkes from the CBG Board stated: „It is outrageous that the responsible companies are blackmailing the victims!“. This type of secrecy policy throws a dubious picture of the actually positive willingness of companies to pay. In addition, the comparison come anyway one „factual admission of guilt“ the defendant company the same.

Bloodthirsty knowingly supplied with contaminated blood plasma
For the CBG, the elucidation of the scandal involving contaminated blood plasma products is by no means complete with the comparison. The organization demands criminal investigations against those responsible at the defendant companies. „As the main culprit of the scandal involving HIV-contaminated blood products, BAYER must not steal responsibility“, stressed Philipp Mimkes. The fact that corporations would rather not talk about their scandalous behavior and would like to prohibit those affected, is understandable given the procedures at that time only too well. According to the CBG, for example, the subsidiary of the Bayer Group, the company Cutter, in the mid-eighties as the world market leader for coagulants, did not use existing inactivation methods for cost reasons, even though the company was aware of the risk of infection for hemophiliacs. Even after untreated blood products were banned in the US and Europe, Cutter had exported remaining batches to Latin America and Asia. According to the CBG, this knowledgeable infection of thousands of hemophiliacs with HIV was one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Bayer Group. The further clarification is now prevented by the obligation of silence in the comparison, according to the CBG outrageous and can only too well recognize the true face of the corporations, who otherwise like to present as sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially friendly. (Fp)

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Image: Company logo Bayer