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SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS activists want billion dollar Glaxo trust

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 17 November (PLUSNEWS) - An HIV/AIDS rally against drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in South Africa's eastern seaboard city of Durban on Thursday is expected to draw at least 1,000 participants.

The marchers will urge Glaxo, which controls over 40 percent of the global antiretroviral drug market, to set up a trust fund of more than US $1.7 billion, dedicated to AIDS treatment.

The US-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is supporting the effort because it believes the trust would in part atone for GSK's AIDS drug pricing policies in the past, which have prevented widespread access to treatment for many thousands of HIV-positive South Africans.

AIDS advocates will present officials at GSK House with a petition signed by more than 100,000 people.

In a recent interview with the UK newspaper, The Times, GSK CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier admitted: "We always end up doing the right things, but sometimes we do it too late."

AHF president Michael Weinstein responded in a statement: "Today, we tell Mr Garnier and GSK that it is not too late, and we urge them to do 'the right thing' and act now, and set up this treatment fund for the benefit of all South Africans."

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