Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11046

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Nigerian court adjourns Pfizer civil case to Oct
Reuters 2007 Jul 30
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30512767.htm

Full text:

KANO, Nigeria, July 30 (Reuters) – A Nigerian court on Monday adjourned until October a case brought by the northern state of Kano against U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. , which it accuses of harming children by testing an unapproved drug on them.

The Kano state government is seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer, which it says caused the deaths of 11 children and permanent health problems for many others in a 1996 drug trial.

Pfizer denies the allegations and says it acted ethically when it tested the antibiotic Trovan on 200 children during a meningitis outbreak.

Justice Sanusi Ciroma Yusuf of the Kano state high court deferred the civil suit to Oct. 3 after the government’s lawyer asked for time to study a defence statement filed by Pfizer.

The U.S. drugmaker is challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit on the grounds that Pfizer is not a Nigerian company. When a U.S. federal judge dismissed a similar suit in 2005, he said the case should be heard in a Nigerian court.

Kano state has filed separate criminal charges against Pfizer, with a hearing also due in October.

Nigeria’s federal government has also filed criminal charges and a $6.5 billion civil lawsuit against Pfizer, saying the company deceived authorities about the details of the tests.

Pfizer says it conducted the tests in the full knowledge of the government, in a responsible and ethical way consistent with its commitment to patient safety.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Trovan for adult use in 1997 but did not clear the drug for use by children.