- Pfizer in 2011 began paying out $175,000 per child to parents affected in its 1996 meningitis drug trial
- Kano government said 50 kids died of 200 experimented on
- There was no written consent and many parents said they did not even give verbal consent
- DNA tests were imposed by Pfizer making it difficult for the victims to get paid in the settlement
- The experimental drug “Trovan” was pulled from European markets following the tragedy in Nigeria
NewsRescue
In 2011 after 15 years of battles, US-based Big Pharma Pfizer drug company began settlements of $175,000 compensatory payments to families of victims of a failed drug trial for meningitis.
The payments were part of a settlement reached in 2009 following the institution of a $7 billion law suit against the pharma company by the government of Nigeria on behalf of the victims. Pfizer also promised the state government $35 billion to sponsor health projects.
According to the Kano state government, where the trial was conducted in 1996, Pfizer’s test drug, “Trovan” was responsible for 50 deaths of children. The pharmaceutical company claimed that 11 children died and argued as is common with Big Pharma in promotion of deadly drugs, that the drug had 94% survival.
Trovan was a quinolone class drug with side effects that include Steven Johnson Syndrome, liver and kidney toxicity and a host of other neurological issues.
At least 200 children were involved in the failed study which left several kids dead and others with varying forms of deformities. Trovan was pulled from European markets due to the results of the trials.
However the big drug company still made it extremely difficult for parents and wards of victims to get the compensation, demanding DNA test to confirm relationship.
Apart from the dead, many of the children on whom Trovan was tested ended up deformed. BBC writes:
In school, Anas Mohammadu’s mates call him “horror” and make fun of him.
When the 14-year-old goes to bed at night, he dreams of becoming a soldier.
 |
His father, Muhammadu Mustapha, knows his son’s dream is unlikely to come true.
“It’s only a pipedream. You don’t become a soldier with weak and wobbly legs and a permanently drooling mouth,” he says bitterly.
“He tires too quickly. The other day, he was trying to draw water from a well and the small bucket almost pulled him into the well.”
Read full in BBC
Verbal Consent
In the case no evidence of consent to the trial was provided. Pfizer claimed it had gotten verbal consent from the parents, a claim the parents deny, saying they only went to hospital for treatment of their children’s meningitis and saw them injected, without knowing their kids were being jabbed with experimental drugs.
“My son was ill and we took him to the hospital like any other family would. Then the Americans and some local Nigerian doctors injected Anas with this evil drug.” Source: “Anger at deadly Nigerian drug trials” – BBC 2007
Related Video
BBC: Victims Demanded Death to Pfizer Management
But Mr Sani says compensation will not be enough.
“In addition to the compensation, they should be killed like the children they have killed,” he says.
The Pfizer experiment was cited by many as a reason for the mass rejection of polio vaccinations in many parts of northern Nigeria in recent years. – BBC
Pfizer had planned to sell Trovan in the US and Europe after the trials on African children. However, its licence was withdrawn in Europe because of concern over liver toxicity. –theGuardian
Related Video: 5 Times Big Pharma Like Pfizer Used Africans as Guinea Pigs
It is not the first time or last that Pfizer will use humans, especially Africans as their guinea pigs to test their drugs according to this video:
