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Pfizer tried to block lawsuits over drug study, US cable says
Source: Agencies |
December 11, 2010, Saturday
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DRUG maker Pfizer Inc hired investigators to uncover "corruption links" to Nigeria's embattled former attorney general in an attempt to stop federal cases over a 1996 drug study, according to a US embassy cable released yesterday by WikiLeaks.
The cable quotes April 2009 conversations that US Embassy staff had with Pfizer officials, just a month before the Nigerian government and the New York-based pharmaceutical company announced a US$75 million settlement over the meningitis study.
The cable suggests associates of former Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa pressured him to drop the cases against Pfizer, fearful that other damaging information about his dealings would be made public.
"Although Pfizer has not seen any documents from the US Embassy in Nigeria regarding the federal government cases, any notion that the company hired investigators in connection to the former attorney general is simply preposterous," the company said.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Abuja declined to comment.
Meningitis, an infection of the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, sickened more than 56,000 people in Nigeria in 2009, according to the World Health Organization. More than 2,400 died. The disease can be prevented by vaccine.
In 1996, Pfizer treated 100 meningitis-infected children around the northern Nigeria city of Kano with an experimental antibiotic called Trovan. An additional 100 children, who were control patients in the study, received an approved antibiotic. But the families' attorneys allege the dose was lower than recommended.
Eleven children died during the clinical trial. Lawsuits filed against the company alleged many children were left with brain damage, paralysis or slurred speech.
Pfizer denied all the charges and said its scientists acted lawfully, keeping with professional standards while testing the drug.
The cable quotes April 2009 conversations that US Embassy staff had with Pfizer officials, just a month before the Nigerian government and the New York-based pharmaceutical company announced a US$75 million settlement over the meningitis study.
The cable suggests associates of former Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa pressured him to drop the cases against Pfizer, fearful that other damaging information about his dealings would be made public.
"Although Pfizer has not seen any documents from the US Embassy in Nigeria regarding the federal government cases, any notion that the company hired investigators in connection to the former attorney general is simply preposterous," the company said.
A spokesman for the US Embassy in Abuja declined to comment.
Meningitis, an infection of the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, sickened more than 56,000 people in Nigeria in 2009, according to the World Health Organization. More than 2,400 died. The disease can be prevented by vaccine.
In 1996, Pfizer treated 100 meningitis-infected children around the northern Nigeria city of Kano with an experimental antibiotic called Trovan. An additional 100 children, who were control patients in the study, received an approved antibiotic. But the families' attorneys allege the dose was lower than recommended.
Eleven children died during the clinical trial. Lawsuits filed against the company alleged many children were left with brain damage, paralysis or slurred speech.
Pfizer denied all the charges and said its scientists acted lawfully, keeping with professional standards while testing the drug.
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