Pfizer in "out of court settlement" over Trovan

Global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is looking to settle its long-standing law suits in Nigerian courts over an allegedly improper clinical trial for the meningitis vaccine Trovan (trovafloxacin mesylate; Marketletters passim), according to local media reports. The Federal High Court in Abuja, presided by Justice Anwuli Chikere, has given both sides until December 15 to submit written arguments concerning the drugmaker's application to have a controversial Nigerian government document excluded from the evidence.

The report, the validity of which Pfizer has challenged, dates from 2001, when the Nigerian Ministry of Health formed an investigative committee to review the Trovan study. Pfizer was denied the opportunity to hear the evidence presented against it or to cross-examine any witnesses, one of whom was the panel's chairman.

A spokesman for the drug major told the Marketletter: "Pfizer continues to be interested in an amicable resolution of these cases. The company is prepared to stay at the settlement table to reach an agreement that would focus on the children who participated in the study, result in improved health care solutions for all the people of Nigeria, and avoid the continued cost and distraction of litigation for all sides."