1996
an outbreak of spinal meningitis struck West Africa, reportedly claiming more than fifteen thousand lives , mostly children.

Pfizer, Inc.-a major international pharmaceutical company-rushed to the nation's aid, bringing needed supplies and medical staff, but Pfizer had something extra in its pocket for Nigeria: Trovan, an experimental drug for the treatment of meningitis.

A humanitarian charity, Doctors Without Borders, had erected a treatment center solely in an effort to save lives. Researchers for Pfizer set up a second center. They were using Nigeria's meningitis epidemic to conduct experiments on children with what Pfizer believed was a promising new antibiotic--a drug not yet approved in the United States.

Of the 200 children who unknowingly took part in the Pfizer trials,at least 11 died. Many others suffered permanent disabilities, including deafness , blindness slurred speech, brain damage..

The children s parents assert that they did not know they were submitting their children to an experimental drug trial, and never gave Pfizer consent to test an unregistered drug on their kids. While Pfizer denies all allegations, it has been unable to produce any records documenting that the children or their parents were informed of the experiment.


2001

An official inquiry has been set up into allegations that the drug manufacturer Pfizer did not obtain official approval before testing a new drug on children during a meningitis epidemic in Nigeria five years ago. The Nigerian doctor who supervised the clinical trial has said that his office backdated an approval letter and this may have been written a year after the study had taken place.

2011

The parents of four Nigerian children who died of meningitis have become the first winners of a 15-year legal battle against Pfizer over a fiercely controversial drug trial.
The world's biggest research-based pharmaceutical company announced on Thursday that it had made payments of $175,000 (�???�??�?�£108,000) to each family. More such compensation settlements are expected to follow.
Pfizer was sued after 11 children died in a clinical trial when the northern state of Kano was hit by Africa's worst ever meningitis epidemic in 1996. A hundred children were given an experimental oral antibiotic called Trovan, while a further hundred received ceftriaxone, the "gold-standard" treatment of modern medicine.

Dr. Juan Walterspiel, a former associate medical director of Pfizer s central research division, who had responsibility for international protocol development claimed that Pfizer fired him after he warned the company, before and after the study was conducted, that the study methods employed by Pfizer in the Nigerian trial were improper and unsafe. Dr Walterspiel s action has since been settled in court.

More details about this scandal can be found punching in :

Pfizer Nigeria scandal 1996

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