S African firm plans AIDS drugs for workers

The board of South African mining group Anglo American is to meet onMay 14 to consider formally a plan, already agreed by the executive committee, to provide HIV/AIDS drugs for the 20% of its 160,000 workers estimated to be HIV-positive, and their spouses.

The firm could thus provide drugs to over 50,000 people, reports the Wall Street Journal. It has already met with Indian generics maker Cipla (Marketletters passim and see story alongside), but says that no company has yet applied for a compulsory license to import or produce cheap HIV/AIDS drugs for South Africa, and if no such applications are made, Anglo American itself would consider applying to ensure the best deal on prices.

Anglo American would offer the drugs through its in-house clinics and hospitals, and track outcomes for the benefit of other companies and governments, notes the WSJ. Another AIDS drug plan is closer to implementation at the diamond mining firm De Beers, in which Anglo American holds a 32% stake, and which plans to use an external firm to supply the drugs rather than its in-house clinic. The WSJ quotes a spokesman as saying that HIV-positive employees will be treated the same as those with any other medical condition, ie if they leave the company they will not continue receiving the drugs.