Pfizer Begins Payments to Participants in Clinical Trials in Nigeria
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Pharmaceutical company Pfizer began paying compensation to participants in clinical trials of the drug Trovan (trovafloxacin), held in the Nigerian province of Kano in the 90s of the last century. As reports AFP, the first four payments at a rate of 175 thousand US dollars each were received by parents of children who have died during research.
The antibiotic trials were organized by Pfizer in Nigeria in 1996. At this time the country was struck by a powerful epidemic of meningococcal meningitis, which resulted in the death of about 12,000 people, mostly children.
In a study in which the efficacy of trovafloxacin was compared with the standard treatment of meningitis, 200 children were affected, 11 of whom later died, and a few dozen became invalids.
In 1997, the Nigerian authorities demanded compensation from the pharmaceutical company for families of dead and injured children. The amount of damage the Nigerian side initially estimated at 7.5 billion dollars.
For a number of years, representatives of Pfizer rejected the claims of Nigerians, stressing that the research has saved dozens of children's lives. However, in 2009, the pharmaceutical company went to an agreement with Nigeria after the claim of the African government was accepted for consideration by the US court. During the negotiations, the amount of compensation decreased to 75 million dollars, that is exactly 100 times.
According to the terms of the agreement, the right of Nigerians to compensation payments should be confirmed by a DNA test, the results of which are compared with those of Pfizer's research participants. So far, 8 of 546 applicants have passed the tests.
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