AIDS drug giant clamps down on medicine smuggling

Multinational drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched a major security initiative aimed at curbing the re-routing of anti-AIDS drugs from Africa back to Europe. GSK investigators recently uncovered a syndicate based in the Netherlands that had shipped more than 43,500 packets of antiretrovirals (ARVs) back to Europe in a single year. The new anti-smuggling move means that in future all ARVs sold to developing countries will be coloured red, to differentiate them from the white pills sold in Europe. A Kenyan newspaper, the East African Standard, quoted GSK's East Africa medical and regulatory affairs director, Dr William Mwatu, as saying: "We have already registered the changes with the relevant authorities across East Africa, and the new-look medicines will be supplied to non-profit organisations as well as governments from this month."