The Kano government in Nigeria is suing Pfizer and its Nigerian subsidiary for $2.7 billion, alleging they used 200 children as “guinea pigs” in a 1996 clinical trial. The move comes after a panel of Nigerian medical experts concluded that Pfizer violated international law during a 1996 epidemic by testing an unapproved drug on kids with brain infections at a field hospital.

The report found that Pfizer never obtained government authorization to give the unapproved med to more than 100 kids and infants. Pfizer selected the patients at a hospital in the city of Kano, where kids were to be treated for a deadly strain of meningitis. The panel concluded it was a “clear case of exploitation of the ignorant.”

In April 1996, an epidemic broke out in Kano in which hundreds of children died of measles, meningitis, cholera and other infectious diseases while Pfizer then led a team of other international organi-zation to assist manage the crisis.

However, investigations followed after the chairman of the federal government team in Kano, Dr Idris Muhammad,asked the international organization to stop further activities until they provide permits from NAFDAC for the administration of the Trovan drug used to treat children during the epidemic. It was never used on human beings.

The panel said an oral form of Trovan had never been given to kids with meningitis,and was only tested in pigs. Many later died, or became deaf or blind. There were no records documenting that Pfizer told any kids or parent they part of an experiment. Last year, The Washington Post reported that Pfizer justified its actions by pointing to an approval letter from a Nigerian ethics committee, which had fabricated and backdated by Pfizer’s lead researcher in Kano.

In a writ of summons. the state government asked the court to grant over 29 claims including: unethical conduct, misgivings, conspiracy, concealment and death of innocent victims. The state accused Pfizer and eight others of devising a scheme to misrepresent, conceal and fail to disclose its primary motive when it sought to participate in caring for victims of the epidemic.

They also declared Pfizer operated under the guise of humanitarian gestures and engaged in highly secretive activities in which only a few defendants were allowed into where the children were kept in the infectious diseases hospital during the epidemic, among others.

The state government asked the court to compel Pfizer and eight others to the $2.7 billion to cover damages; costs for treating the children; compensating and supporting victims; and to reimburse the government for dealing with lasting public outrage. When the trial first became known in 2000, the news was greeted with street demonstrations and demands for reform.

The case is expected to begin on June 4.

Further reading…

AllAfrica.com report today;
The Washington Post on the release of the investigation last year.[tags]Clinical Trials, Ethics, Nigeria, Pfizer, Trojan[/tags]