Spotlight: S.F., AIDS Activists Launch Zantac Boycott

Activists joined San Francisco city officials in launching a boycott of London-based Glaxo Wellcome’s lucrative Zantac antacid in a dispute over the company’s promising anti-HIV drug, which both sides say appears more powerful and less toxic than AZT or 3TC. Zantac is Glaxo’s biggest profit generator, accounting for 23% of the company’s $13 billion in international sales. Activists accuse Glaxo of dragging its feet on marketing its new AIDS drug called 1592. Glaxo has rejected the charges.