Why pharmaceuticals companies may not always tell you the truth ...

Drug giant hit with $8bn lawsuit

6 June 2007

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc has fought back over a massive lawsuit filed by Nigeria, which alleges the US firm tested an unproved drug on the country's children.

Nigeria alleges Pfizer tested an antibiotic on children with meningitis without authorisation or parental consent, leaving 11 dead and up to 181 suffering from severe side-effects including paralysis and brain damage.

The Nigerian Government filed a suit for $US7 billion ($8.4 billion) in damages yesterday, following a similar $US2.75 billion suit filed by the country's largest state Kano last month.
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Mr Pletan said that 200 sick children took part in the trial.

One hundred of them were given a standard treatment for meningitis called Rocephin (lab name ceftriaxone), while the others were given Trovan (lab name trovafloxacin).

Six children in the ceftriaxone group died, and five in the Trovan group died, said Mr Pletan.
These deaths, and the cases of injury, were caused by meningitis, which carries a high fatality rate, he said.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared Trovan for adult use in 1997 and drug swiftly became established as one of the most prescribed antibiotics in the US market.

It was later associated with reports of liver damage and deaths, prompting the FDA in 1999 to restrict its use to serious adult cases.

That same year, European drug regulators recommended its suspension from the European market, a decision that has been made permanent, according to the Pfizer website.

The Nigerian controversy was brought to light by a Washington Post investigation in December 2000.

See - Drug giant hit with $8bn lawsuit.