Glaxo has confirmed it provided funds for some of the experiments but denied any improper action.
A spokeswoman said, "These studies were implemented by the US AIDS Clinical Trial Group, a clinical research network paid for by the National Institutes of Health.
"Glaxo's involvement in such studies would have been to provide study drugs or funding but we would have no interactions with the patients.
"Generally speaking, clinical research is carefully regulated in the US and it would be the responsibility of the appropriate authorities to ensure all subjects in a clinical trial provided appropriate, informed consent to conform with all local laws and regulations regarding legal authority in the case of minors."
The Incarnation trials were run by Columbia University Medical Center doctors.
Columbia spokeswoman Annie Bayne said there had been no clinical trials at Incarnation since 2000 and that consent for the children was provided by the Administration for Children's Services, which relies on a panel of doctors and lawyers to determine whether the benefits of a trial for each child outweighs the risks to the child.
"There are many safeguards in the system. HIV is eventually a fatal disease, but drug therapy has lengthened life significantly," Bayne said.
A spokesman for Incarnation said regarding the scandal, "The purpose of the trials was to test the efficacy of HIV medication."
"These trials were based on scientific evidence of their potential value in the treatment of HIV- infected children," the spokesman said.
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