Ruby Rabiu
5 June 2007
Drugs giant, Pfizer, came under greater pressure yesterday when the federal government went to court to seek $7billion in damages and compensation for the 200 children affected by an illegal drug test in Kano.
The case is in addition to one before the Kano High Court which also kicked off yesterday.
The government accused Pfizer of testing a new antibiotic on the children without the consent of their illiterate parents.
The Federal High Court in Abuja said it would fast track the case. The case is being brought by the Attorney General on behalf of the Kano state government.
Pfizer International Incorporated, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, ran tests of an antibiotic 'Trovanfloxacin Mesylate' (Trovan) on 200 Nigerian children. The families of the children say they were not properly informed of the tests and did not know their rights. The 200 children in the case were infected by a meningitis outbreak in 1996. Eleven died and others were made blind and deaf, the government says.
The government is asking for $500m, the cost of treating, compensating and supporting the victims of the Kano Trovan test and their families, another $450m incurred during their public enlightenment efforts to "erase the societal misgivings and prejudices". They are also asking the court to grant another $1billion used for health sponsored programmes and initiatives which have failed and an extra $5billion as "general damages".
Those named as defendants are Pfizer International Incorporated, Pfizer Nigeria Limited, William Steere, Samuel Ohuabunwa, A. Dogunro, Isa Dutse, Scott Hopkins, Mike Dunne, Debra Williams and Robert Buhl.
Steere was at the material time the Chief Executive Officer of PII, Ohuanbunwa was at the time of the test, the Chief Executive Officer of PNL, Dogunro was a medical doctor in the employment of PNL at the time, Dutse was a medical doctor at the time and was the Principal Investigator of PII at the time the test was carried out.
Hopkins, Dunne and Williams were medical doctors employed by PII.
When the case came up for hearing, counsel to the AGF, Mr Tunde Irukera, sought for an adjournment to enable him serve papers on the other defendants who were based outside the country.
Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), counsel to the defendants, said the action before it was incompetent as the rules of court have not been followed.
He said however, that his clients were anxious to defend their reputation and integrity against the "damaging allegations" in the plaintiff's claim. He urged the court to grant accelerated hearing in the case and said the world is interested in the outcome of the case and that his client who are leading manufacturers are anxious to defend their reputation since they committed no wrong.
The court granted all Chief Afe Babalola prayers and adjourned the matter to June 26, for report of compliance.
Daily Trust reported the Kano state government had instituted a suit against Pfizer International Incorporated demanding $ 2.7 billion for the tests.
In Kano, the high court fixed July 9, 2007 for the hearing in the criminal case between the Kano government and Pfizer incorporated and nine others.
The court was adjourned because Pfizer did not turn up in court to defend themselves, Justice Shehu Atiku, ruled.
Daily Trust observed that counsel to the state government who is also the director of public prosecu-tion, Barrister Sulaiman Baba Namalam, was in the court for more than an hour waiting for the defendants to appear before the court.
A Nigerian government investigative panel concluded in 2001 that the Pfizer experiment was "an illegal trial of an unregistered drug".
The panel also said the clinical trial was a "clear case of exploitation of the ignorant."
Pfizer denies the allegations and claims that its clinical trials were done according to Nigerian laws and international standards.
The drug company claims that "verbal consent was obtained" from the parents of the children who took part in the trial and that the exercise was "sound from medical, scientific, regulatory and ethical standpoints".
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
