Fwd: Pfizer Settles Nigerian Children Deaths for $75 Million

[Guest guest]

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure,and Accountability http://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com FYIA thirteen year battle that has been waged by two lawyers--one, Nigerian,Etigwe Uwo, another a Connecticut Yankee, Richard Altschuler--against thegiant pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, has culminated in a $75 millionsettlement.The plaintiffs are poor Nigerian families whose children--either died orsuffered permanent harm from an unethical  drug experiment conducted on 200Nigerian children during a meningitis epidemic in 1996.  It is alleged thatthe experiment was conducted without approval of an ethics board; thechildren were enrolled without the informed consent of the parents. Thesevery sick children were denied treatment with an approved antibiotic andwere subjected, instead, to Pfizer's experimental antibiotic, Trovan.According to the lawyers, eleven of the children died and many more latersuffered serious side-effects ranging from organ failure to brain damage.The Pfizer team reportedly packed up after two weeks and left.Trovan never became the blockbuster that Pfizer had hoped for and it is nolonger in production. The European Union banned the drug and it has beenwithdrawn from sale in the US.Asked why the case meandered for so many years? Etigwe Uwo said:    "The strategy of big companies when they are dealing with smalleropponents is to stretch the process, to overwhelm us until we are ready toaccept whatever they want to offer." This may not be the end of the legal battle: In January 2009, a New Yorkappeal court ruled that Mr Etigwe and Mr Altschuler's case could be heard inthe US. The Connecticut attorney says it could still go ahead. "Our case isfirmly embedded in the US ... so a Nigerian settlement does not forecloseour case. But this is very good news. I'm glad we remained the constantgardener and could see this come to fruition."Question: How much compensation will the victims receive out of the$75,000,000 settlement?Contact: Vera Hassner Sharavveracare212-595-8974----------http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/pfizer-to-pay-16350m-after-deaths-of-nigerian-children-in-drug-trial-experiment-1663402.htmlPfizer to pay £50m after deaths of Nigerian children in drug trialexperimentOut of court settlement in the case that inspired 'The Constant Gardener'By Daniel Howden, Africa CorrespondentA divorce case was all that passed for excitement at Richard P Altschuler's"kinda small" lawyer's office in West Haven, Connecticut, when the phonerang nine years ago. On the other end of the line, a world away in the heatof Nigeria, was Etigwe Uwo, a young lawyer with "an incredible story aboutPfizer". The Lagos attorney was going to take on the largest pharmaceuticalcompany in the world in an unprecedented class action pitting Africanparents against an American corporate giant. And he needed help.Mr Etigwe had chosen Mr Altschuler because, back in 1979, the Connecticutlawyer had successfully defended a friend of the Nigerian. The unlikely pairwere about to embark on a marathon journey into the world of "big pharma".Nine years on and their efforts have finally been rewarded with a reported$75m (£50m) settlement, the terms of which are likely to be released thisweek.If it sounds like the script of a Hollywood blockbuster that's because itwas this story that prompted John Le Carre to write The Constant Gardener,according to Mr Altschuler.In real life it was to Nigeria, not Kenya, that Pfizer turned. In 1996, thecompany needed a human trial for what it hoped would be a pharmaceutical"blockbuster", a broad spectrum antibiotic that could be taken in tabletform. The US-based company sent a team of its doctors into the Nigerian slumcity of Kano in the midst of an appaling meningitis epidemic to perform whatit calls a "humanitarian mission". However the accusers claim it was anunlicensed medical trial on critically-ill children.A team of Pfizer doctors reached the Nigerian camp just as the outbreak,which killed at least 11,000 people, was peaking. They set themselves upwithin metres of a medical station run by the aid group Médecins SansFrontières, which was dispensing proven treatments to ease the epidemic. From the crowd that had gathered at the Kano Infectious Diseases Hospital, 200 sick children were picked. Half were given doses of the experimentalPfizer drug called Trovan and the others were treated with a provenantibiotic from a rival company.Eleven of the children died and many more, it is alleged, later sufferedserious side-effects ranging from organ failure to brain damage. But withmeningitis, cholera and measles still raging and crowds still queueing atthe fence of the camp, the Pfizer team packed up after two weeks and left.That would probably have been an end to the story if it weren't for Pfizeremployee, Juan Walterspiel. About 18 months after the medical trial he wrotea letter to the then chief executive of the company, William Steere, sayingthat the trial had "violated ethical rules". Mr Walterspiel was fired a daylater for reasons "unrelated" to the letter, insists Pfizer.The company claims only five children died after taking Trovan and six diedafter receiving injections of the certified drug Rocephin. Thepharmaceutical giant says it was the meningitis that harmed the children andnot their drug trial. But did the parents know that they were offering theirchildren up for an experimental medical trial?"No," Nigerian parent Malam Musa Zango said. He claims his son Sumaila, whowas then 12 years old, was left deaf and mute after taking part in thetrial. But Pfizer has denied this and says consent had been given by theNigerian state and the families of those treated. It produced a letter ofpermission from a Kano ethics committee. The letter turned out to have beenbackdated and the committee set up a year after the original medical trial.At stake at one point last year was more than $8bn in punitive damages beingsought in a string of cases, as well as potential jail terms in Nigeria forseveral Pfizer staff. "There has been a complex web of cases withproceedings in Connecticut, New York, Lagos, Abuja and Kano," Mr Etigwesaid. "The strategy of big companies when they are dealing with smalleropponents is to stretch the process, to overwhelm us until we are ready toaccept whatever they want to offer." Trovan never became the blockbusterthat Pfizer had hoped for and it is no longer in production. The EU hasbanned the drug and it has been withdrawn from sale in the US.It appears that Pfizer has finally ended the public relations nightmare withFriday's settlement. But the Trovan battle may not be over yet.At the end of January 2009, a New York appeal court ruled Mr Etigwe and MrAltschuler's case could be heard in the US. The Connecticut attorney says itcould still go ahead. "Our case is firmly embedded in the US ... so aNigerian settlement does not foreclose our case. But this is very good news.I'm glad we remained the constant gardener and could see this come tofruition."FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of whichhas not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Suchmaterial is made available for educational purposes, to advanceunderstanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, andsocial justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fairuse' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C.section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed withoutprofit. _____________Infomail1 mailing listto send a message to Infomail1-leave =====In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.