Pfizer Offers AIDS Drug to South Africa

Pfizer is expected to announce on December 1, World AIDS Day, that it will donate $50 million worth of its antifungal drug Diflucan, which is used by many AIDS patients, to South Africa over two years. Under the deal, Pfizer would provide Diflucan free of charge to individuals with cryptococcal meningitis and candida infection of the esophagus that affects between 20 percent and 40 percent of AIDS patients. South African and U.S. AIDS activists, as well as the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, have criticized the drug company's offer, calling it a public-relations move that will likely include several restrictions on the drug's distribution. (Source: Wall Street Journal 29/11/00)