Court orders arrest of 3 Pfizer officials

25.12.2007

A High Court in Kano State on Monday ordered the arrest of three of the defendants in a trial over a drug test conducted by Pfizer in 1996 which Nigerian authorities say killed 11 children and left others disabled.

Kano State government is suing Pfizer for $2 billion in damages and pressing criminal charges over the testing of the antibiotic Trovan on children in Kano during a meningitis epidemic that killed 12,000 children in six months.

The Federal Government is suing for an additional $6.5 billion and also pressing criminal charges. Pfizer denies allegations that Trovan harmed children and that the company did not obtain proper regulatory and parental approval.

The company said that it was meningitis that killed the children or damaged their health, while Trovan saved lives. The High Court in Kano on Monday held a hearing in the state’s criminal case against Pfizer.

Lawyers for Pfizer were present but Justice Shehu Atiku complained that some defendants should have been present in court and issued arrest warrants against three of them.