23rd February, 2011
Global pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer Inc. has announced that it has reached settlement with all plaintiffs in Nigeria and United States in the cases related to the 1996 Trovan clinical study conducted in Kano, Kano State. This has brighten the hope of eventual payment of compensation to participants and their families in the $75 million settlement deal reached by the drug manufacturer with the Kano State government in 2009.
It will be recalled that there have been a series of lawsuits over accusations that the pharmaceutical company tested the then experimental antibiotic on 200 children during a 1996 meningitis outbreak in the ancient city without receiving appropriate permissions from the parents and the Nigerian regulatory authorities.
Pfizer however denied the charges while insisting that Trovan not only helped save lives of children during the 1996 meningitis crisis, but that it obtained all the necessary prior approvals before embarking on the study.
The company had also argued that it is meningitis and not its antibiotic led to deaths of 11 children and harm to dozens of others during the study.
The American drug manufacturer had in 2009 reached an out of court $75million settlement deal with Kano State Government.
The terms of the agreement indicated that $10 million is to be used to settle the legal costs incurred by the State government; $30million dollar is to be used to put in place healthcare facilities that will enhance the capacity of the state to deal with future epidemics while $35million was set aside for payment of compensation for participants in the drug trial.
While the process of putting in place the $30 million healthcare facilities has progressed significantly, the process of implementation of the compensation part of the deal has been stalled.
A group which claimed to have participated in the deal had dragged Pfizer and the Meningitis Trust Fund, an independent body charged with the responsibility of administering the compensation fund to court over the adoption of DNA process to determine the 200 genuine claimants out of the over 600 that came forward and filled the forms to share in the $35 million compensation.
But Pfizer said with the agreement it reached with all parties to the lawsuits against it in Nigeria and the United States, the process of compensation can now continue: “The settlement of the cases pertaining to Trovan clears the way for the Board (of Trustees) to finalize its work in Nigeria to determine claimants’ eligibility,” Pfizer Associate General Counsel Bradley Lerman said in a statement.
“Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the plaintiffs will join the ongoing Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund process, which is being managed by an independent Board of Trustees in Kano, Nigeria.
“The cases have been amicably resolved after many years of litigation. The settlement will bring an end to all litigation pertaining to Trovan in the United States and Nigeria and allow for just compensation for participants in the study and their families.
“ The parties agree that settlement is in the best interests of all involved, the company concluded.
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