Armour found not liable in Canadian blood taint trial

Source: Bloomberg Canada

By Joe Schneider

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Armour Pharmaceutical Co. and a former director at the Canadian Red Cross were acquitted of criminal negligence following an 18-month trial on charges they failed to properly screen blood products that infected thousands of Canadians with hepatitis and HIV. Ontario Superior Court Judge Mary Lou Benotto released her ruling today in Toronto, finding Armour, former Canadian Red Cross chief Roger Perrault and three other officials acted properly in distributing the blood products.

"There was no conduct that showed wanton and reckless disregard," required for a criminal negligence conviction, Benotto told a courtroom filled with victims, their relatives and media. "The allegations of criminal conduct on the part of these men and this corporation were not only unsupported by evidence, they were disproved."

More than 1,000 Canadians contracted HIV and as many as 20,000 got hepatitis C from blood transfusions with tainted products in the 1980s and 1990s, according to evidence presented at the trial.

"The events here were tragic," Benotto said. "However, to assign blame where none exists is to compound the tragedy."

Armour, which had been based in New Jersey, supplied the blood-clotting agent H.T. Factorate, which had been tainted with HIV, between July 1986 and December 1987. The Red Cross had distributed the products to clinics and hospitals.

`Shocked'

"We're quite shocked at this particular decision," John Plater of the Canadian Hemophilia Society told reporters after the judge read her decision. "This certainly is not over, despite what we heard today."

Now a non-operating company, according to lawyer Brian Greenspan, Armour won a contract in 1985 to supply the Canadian Red Cross with 10 million units of Factor VIII. A year later the contract was renewed for 12 million units, prosecutor Michael Bernstein said in his opening statement Feb. 21, 2006.

The four counts of criminal negligence of which Armour was accused stem from four Canadians who developed AIDS after being treated with HIV-contaminated Factor VIII, the government said. Three of them died, Bernstein said.

Also charged with criminal negligence were John Furesz, former director of Canada's Bureau of Biologics; Donald Boucher, former chief of the blood products division of the Bureau of Biologics; and Michael Rodell, former vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at Armour.

All of the defendants were acquitted on all charges. Bernstein wasn't immediately available for comment.
The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty in May 2005 to distributing harmful products in contravention of the federal Food and Drugs Act and agreed to pay a C$5,000 ($5,044) fine and C$1.5 million to establish charitable foundations.

The agency had sold its blood operations in 1998 to help pay C$70 million to the people who were infected.

The case is Between Her Majesty the Queen and Armour Pharmaceutical Co., Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Toronto), Case No.: P51/04.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Toronto at jschneider5@bloomberg.net .