Pfizer Charged by Nigerian Officials

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Washington Post

Officials in Nigeria have brought criminal charges against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. for the company's alleged role in the deaths of children who received an unapproved drug during a meningitis epidemic.

Authorities in Kano, the country's largest state, filed eight charges this month related to the 1996 clinical trial, including counts of criminal conspiracy and voluntarily causing grievous harm. They also filed a civil lawsuit seeking more than $2 billion in damages and restitution from Pfizer, the world's largest drug company.

The move represents a rare -- perhaps unprecedented -- instance in which the developing world's anger at multinational drug companies has boiled over into criminal charges. It also represents the latest in a string of public-relations blows stemming from the decade-old clinical trial, in which Pfizer says it acted ethically.

The government alleges that Pfizer researchers selected 200 children and infants from crowds at a makeshift epidemic camp in Kano and gave about half of the group an untested antibiotic called Trovan. Researchers gave the other children what the lawsuit describes as a dangerously low dose of a comparison drug made by Hoffmann-La Roche. Nigerian officials say Pfizer's actions resulted in the deaths of an unspecified number of children and left others deaf, paralyzed, blind or brain-damaged.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/29/AR2007052902107.html?hpid=topnews

[acmavm]

1. Good. The drug companies have used Africa as their guinea pig for

a looooonnnnnnggggg time. Clear back to researching polio vaccine.

Did anyone else ever read Hunter Thompson's brillian article about how HIV might have been spread during the search for a cure for polio? He made a really great case.

I had the Rolling Stone, I just can't find it.

[orleans]

2. i've heard the chemical companies were doing the same in africa. n/t

[Javaman]

4. here it is...

It was actually written by Tom Curtis...

http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/dissent/documents/AIDS/Curtis92.html

[acmavm]

6. Shoot, it wasn't Thompson. But that's what happens to some of

us when we try to remember shit from 13 years ago. I had the Rolling Stone clear up until a couple of years ago. Now I can't find it.

[Javaman]

8. If it wasn't for google, I wouldn't remember where I put my keys. :) nt

[Javaman]

3. Watch the movie, "the Constant Gardener". nt

[Demeter]

5. So That's Why Pfizer Dropped All Its Michigan People and Places

A little problem with unanticipated expenses....

[NashVegas]

7. More Background

From May 2006:
http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2006/5/9/3889

1996 saw an outbreaks of cholera, measles and bacterial meningitis in Nigera, killing more than 15,000 people. Pfizer used this as an opportunity to test an oral form of their antibiotic, trovafloxacin (Trovan) on children for the first time, without having to deal with pesky inconveniences like ethics committee approval. Trovafloxacin was banned in Europe and restricted in the US following serious side effects such as liver damage.

A leaked report, written by a panel of Nigerian medical experts and obtained by the Washington Post, concluded that Pfizer broke international law by conducting this trial ion a field hospital in Kano. The report was suppressed by the Nigerian government. Pfizer claim that they were acting philanthropically, to help combat these epidemics, despite the fact that they completed their trial and left the country while the diseases were still raging. A letter presented by Pfizer as proof of ethics committee approval was backdated and falsified. US Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) is also weighing in. Describing the incident as "absolutely appalling".

August, 2001:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1517171.stm

The families say the results from the control group allowed Pfizer to claim Trovan was effective, possibly more so than other drugs on the market.

It further alleges that Pfizer did not tell parents they were free to refuse the drug and instead choose an internationally approved treatment for meningitis being offered at the same site free of charge by a charitable medical group.

[Eugene]

9. Update: Nigeria Case Against Pfizer Delayed

Source: Associated Press

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6682185,00.html">Nigeria Case Against Pfizer Delayed

Monday June 4, 2007 12:31 PM

By SALISU RABIU

Associated Press Writer

KANO, Nigeria (AP) - Lawyers for a northern Nigeria state
seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer Inc. over allegations
of wrongdoing in a decades-old drug study failed to show up
for the first court proceedings Monday and the case was
postponed.

The judge hearing the case launched by the northern state of
Kano said criminal proceedings lodged against company officers
now would begin July 4, while a related civil case seeking the
monetary damages would begin July 9.

Officials in northern Nigeria's Kano state and company officials
weren't immediately available for comment. Nigeria's government
is in disarray after the May 29 inauguration of new governors,
state assemblies and elected federal officers, including a new
president.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6682185,00.html

[BlueIris]

10. Great. Let's keep this one close, kids. I'm sick of these killers. nt

[Eugene]

11. Nigeria files suit against Pfizer, seeks $6.95 bln

Source: Reuters

Nigeria files suit against Pfizer, seeks $6.95 bln
04 Jun 2007 19:29:45 GMT
Source: Reuters

ABUJA, June 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria filed charges against Pfizer <PFE.N>
on Monday seeking $6.95 billion in damages for the drugmaker's alleged
role in the deaths of children who received an unapproved drug during
a meningitis epidemic.

Nigeria alleged in papers filed at a Federal High Court in the capital
Abuja that Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, did not obtain approval
from the relevant regulatory agencies and acted unethically when it
tested the antibiotic Trovan in the northern Muslim state of Kano state
in 1996.

"The plaintiff contends that the defendant never obtained approval of
the relevant regulatory agencies ... nor did the defendant seek or
receive approval to conduct any clinical trial at any time before their
illegal conduct," Nigeria said in court papers obtained by Reuters.

After taking preliminary arguments from counsels to both parties,
Justice Babs Kuewumi adjourned the case to June 26 for further
hearing.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04808973.htm

[nedbal]

12. is this just another Nigerian scam?, actually done by gov officials