Pfizer denies Nigeria trials were illegal

Global drug giant Pfizer has denied claims by the Nigerian government that it conducted a meningitis drug trial on children without either government approval or that of the parents and guardians of the patients. The claims were reported in the Washington Post and followed revelations of a report that has remained unpublished for more than five years.

Pfizer "broke international law"

The dispute stems from a 1996 outbreak of meningitis in the Nigerian city of Kano. According to a medical panel reporting to the Nigerian government in 2000, Pfizer had conducted "an illegal trial of an unregistered drug." The committee further accused the drug firm of "exploitation of the ignorant," claiming that parents had not been told that the drug Trovan (trovafloxacin) was experimental and that other treatments were available, notably Switzerland-based drug major Roche's Rocephin (ceftriaxone). The report's conclusions were that Pfizer had violated both Nigerian and international law, notably the Helsinki declaration on medical research ethics and the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child.