Sanofi CEO Reminisces About "The Day We Sued Nelson Mandela." Yes, You Read That Right

(MoneyWatch)  Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) CEO Chris Viehbacher took a freewheeling walk down memory lane in his recent conference call with analysts to discuss the company's Q4 2009 earnings. In his introductory remarks he got onto the topic of corporate image and dropped this little grenade:

I remember five years ago, we had huge issues of image. We can go back to the days when we sued Nelson Mandela.

What?! Sued Nelson Mandela? (And why are you bringing this up on the 20th anniversary of Mandela's release from prison?)

Turns out that Viehbacher is getting his career mixed up. Way back in 1998, 39 companies did indeed sue Mandela, the South African premier at the time, over the price of HIV drugs in the nation. South Africa had allowed domestic companies to circumvent international patent law to manufacture cheap HIV drugs, as one in nine South Africans had HIV and most could not afford treatment. But Sanofi was not one of those companies.

Rather, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was the leader of the pack. Between 1998 and 2001 the issue became so explosive that protesters staged marches on GSK's offices in New York:

Outraged by GlaxoSmithKline's history of thwarting access to affordable generic AIDS drugs in Africa, activists from ACT UP New York took over the giant drugmaker's Manhattan investor relations offices on February 20, 2001. The activists occupied the office, threw "blood money" and empty pill bottles, and chanted "GlaxoSmithKline! GlobalSerialKiller!" The five arrested are currently charged with 2 felonies and 3 misdemeanors.

Viehbacher, of course, is a GSK alum, having been the former head of U.S. pharma at that company. The companies backed off and withdrew their suit in 2001 after taking a PR battering.

Clearly, the Mandela anniversary triggered some vivid memories to resurface from Veihbacher's corporate subconscious.

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