Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11408
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
Pharmaceuticals reps in Nigeria defend Pfizer's credibility
Agence France-Presse 2007 Aug 30
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070830/ts_alt_afp/nigeriaushealthpfizer
Full text:
LAGOS (AFP) – Nigerian representatives of foreign drug firms Thursday took out a newspaper advertisement to defend legally embattled Pfizer, saying it applied high ethical standards in its operations in the country.
In the name of the Nigerian Representatives of Overseas Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NIROPHARM), the advertisement said that member organisations “including Pfizer are guided by a commitment to patient safety”.
Pfizer is facing two separate law suits filed by the government of Nigeria and the Kano state government over a failed 1996 Trovan trial test in the northern city of Kano, which allegedly caused several child deaths.
The NIROPHARM advert signed by its president, Remi Adeseun, said the long-term goal of the Trovan clinical study US by the pharmaceutical giant was “to develop a life-saving and innovative form of antibiotic that could be used effectively in paediatric meningitis epidemic in a developing country”.
The test, which allegedly led to the death of some children and the maiming of others, was carried out at the peak of outbreaks of meningitis, measles and cholera in Nigeria’s largest northern city.
The Nigerian government in its suit is asking for 6.5 billion dollars (4.78 million euros) in damages for deaths allegedly stemming from drug trials, while Kano’s government wants 2.75 billion dollars from Pfizer in compensation for alleged victims of the test.
The pharmaceutical company is being accused of “suppplying an unregistered drug known as Trovafloxacin into Nigeria for the purpose of conducting clinical trials without obtaining a valid certificate”.
Pfizer was also alleged to have “unlawfully conducted a clinical trial without obtaining a valid clinical trial certificate”
But Pfizer has consistently denied the charges.
At the last hearings, the courts respectively postponed further hearings in the Kano and Nigerian cases to October 3 and October 29.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Trovan for adult use in 1997 and the drug swiftly became established as one of the most prescribed antibiotics in the US market.
Meanwhile, the overseas drug manufacturers representatives in Nigeria said they seek an enabling environment that will enhance the achievement of “promoting research and drug production” in the interest of the people.
