Haemophiliacs in Taiwan and HK follow UK example
Haemophiliacs in Hong Kong and Taiwan have been given the go-ahead to sue a multi-national drugs company in the US.
The issue over which they are suing for compensation is that they contracted HIV from contaminated blood products that the firm knowingly distributed in Asia.
The decision comes as US pharma companies meet UK victims of the gross professional negligence, which affected nearly 6,000 people with haemophilia during the 1970s and 1980s in Britain.
Haemophiliacs in the UK were denied permission to sue in the US courts by a judge who ruled that the British courts were in a better position to hear the evidence.
Nearly 2,000 victims in the UK have now perished in what has been called "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".
Of people in the UK with haemophilia who were infected with HIV, roughly 300 are still alive. Of those, around 180 still have cases in the UK courts.
Lawyers for the US drug firms have offered compensation to those affected by the professional negligence in the UK. The lawyers also said that this offer will be withdrawn unless 95% of claimants are willing to accept it.
A spokesperson for a reputed pharma company said of the Taiwanese case that their company "is committed to the highest ethical standards, to promoting our medications responsibly and to providing life-saving therapies for the global haemophilia community."
Updated on 12/10/2009