Pfizer Settles Trovan Suit. Partially.
Posted by Osagie Obasogie August 10, 2009
Biopolitical Times
Two years ago, I blogged about Nigeria’s lawsuit against Pfizer for running ethically questionable clinical trials for Trovan during a meningitis epidemic. In short, testing a new drug on a vulnerable population in the midst of an epidemic when a known treatment is available raises serious questions. There is evidence that the clinical trial did not conform to US standards and there were questions concerning whether Pfizer obtained informed consent. Moreover, there were also questions about the drug itself: Nigerian officials claim it killed 11 children and disabled many others.
There seems to have been at least a partial resolution. A few weeks ago, Pfizer agreed to pay $75 million to the state of Kano to settle criminal and civil charges; $30 million will go towards health care programs in Kano, $10 million will be used to reimburse legal costs, and $35 million will be used to compensate harmed patients. But the story doesn’t necessarily end here. While the state level suit may have been resolved, Nigeria’s federal government has an outstanding $6 billion suit against Pfizer that is not affected by this settlement. Stay tuned.
There seems to have been at least a partial resolution. A few weeks ago, Pfizer agreed to pay $75 million to the state of Kano to settle criminal and civil charges; $30 million will go towards health care programs in Kano, $10 million will be used to reimburse legal costs, and $35 million will be used to compensate harmed patients. But the story doesn’t necessarily end here. While the state level suit may have been resolved, Nigeria’s federal government has an outstanding $6 billion suit against Pfizer that is not affected by this settlement. Stay tuned.