Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12078

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Publication type: news

Adigun B.
Nigerian Lawyers Say Settlement Talks Stalled With Pfizer Over Kano Drug-study Allegations
Associated Press 2007 Nov 28
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=fc16e9ea-6a78-4192-a7ea-5b61f316cd48

Full text:

Abuja, Nigeria – Settlement talks over alleged injuries and deaths of children involved in a decade-old drug study by Pfizer Inc. have stalled, government attorneys said Tuesday.

Mariam Uwais said settlement talks had been suspended, but gave no more details. Pfizer Inc. has denied any wrongdoing.

The mid-1990s study used a group of 200 children to test an experimental meningitis treatment. The study took place during a 1996 meningitis epidemic in Kano state’s main city, also called Kano.

“They don’t seem to appreciate the enormity (of what) we believe happened in Kano. They are trying to evade certain issues, but we are insisting that those issues have to be addressed and unless these issues are addressed we will not sit with them again,” she told reporters outside a court building in the capital, Abuja, where a hearing in the case had taken place. “In terms of liability, they don’t seem to agree that they are liable,” she said.

Pfizer said it was willing to continue talks with the plaintiffs, which include federal and state authorities.

Nigerian authorities allege Pfizer conducted illegal drug experiments, resulting in deaths, brain damage, paralysis and slurred speech in many of the children involved in the 1996 study.

A case launched by Nigeria’s federal government is seeking $7 billion in damages, while a separate case stemming from the same study by Kano state is seeking $2 billion. Pfizer officers who worked for the company at the time of the tests are also the subject of criminal cases, Nigerian lawyers say.

Pfizer treated 100 meningitis-infected children with an experimental antibiotic, Trovan. Another 100 children, who were control patients in the study, received an approved antibiotic, ceftriaxone – but the dose was lower than recommended, the family attorneys allege.

As many as 11 children in the study died, while others suffered physical disabilities and brain damage.