Global AIDS Fund Deals a Setback to Drug Makers in Board Selection

Organizers of the new Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have named a mining executive to the fund's board, rejecting candidates from the drug industry. The appointment is expected to be announced today.

The decision to name Goran Lindahl, deputy chairman of Anglo American PLC, one of the largest private employers in South Africa, to the board was made in part to avoid controversy that likely would have erupted if a pharmaceuticals executive was chosen as a voting member.

Government officials like Crispus Kiyonga, the former health minister of Uganda, had supported the central involvement of pharmaceutical companies. But non-governmental organizations and some business groups were concerned about the symbolism of a drug company official on the board. Activists expressed concern that drug companies seeking to sell high-price medicines in poor countries might exploit the fund. Internal fund documents, drafted last fall, indicate that placing a pharmaceutical executive on the board would give rise to "conflict-of-interest issues."

The new board is expected to announce later this month that it is accepting applications from poor countries. The fund says that it will have $700 million to disburse in 2002. A controversial issue will be whether the fund will buy antiretroviral medicines to treat people with HIV/AIDS, and whether it will buy generic drugs. A 40-member transition group within the fund recommended that the fund pay for medicines, including antiretrovirals, anti-TB drugs and anti-malarials.

Publicly, the fund maintains that it will abide by all international treaties and trade pacts regarding patents. However, the outcry over the high cost of AIDS and other medicines has made the buying of generics more controversial. The board will also include representatives from donor and recipient nations, health advocates and philanthropies.

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