Nigeria case against Pfizer delayed

[Al-khiyal]

KANO, Nigeria, June 4, 2007 (AP) - Lawyers for a northern Nigeria state seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer Inc. over allegations of wrongdoing in a decades-old drug study failed to show up for the first court proceedings Monday and the case was postponed.

The judge hearing the case launched by the northern state of Kano said criminal proceedings lodged against company officers now would begin July 4, while a related civil case seeking the monetary damages would begin July 9.

Officials in northern Nigeria's Kano state and company officials weren't immediately available for comment. Nigeria's government is in disarray after the May 29 inauguration of new governors, state assemblies and elected federal officers, including a new president.

New York-based Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has denied any wrongdoing. A federal court in Manhattan dismissed a 2001 lawsuit by disabled Nigerians who allegedly took part in the study, but the case is under appeal.

In the civil suit, Kano state authorities allege Pfizer illegally conducted a drug experiment on 200 children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic in the state's main city, also called Kano, resulting in deaths, brain damage, paralysis and slurred speech in many of the children.

Pfizer treated 100 meningitis-infected children with an experimental antibiotic, Trovan. Another 100 children, who were control patients in the study, received an approved antibiotic, ceftriaxone - but the dose was lower than recommended, the families' lawyers alleged.

Up to 11 children in the study died, while others suffered physical disabilities and brain damage. But Pfizer has insisted its records show none of the deaths was linked to Trovan or substandard treatment.

Authorities in Kano state are blaming the Pfizer controversy for widespread suspicion of government public health policies, particularly the global effort to vaccinate children against polio, which has met strong resistance in northern Nigeria.

Islamic leaders in largely Muslim Kano had seized on the Pfizer controversy as evidence of a U.S.-led conspiracy. Rumors that polio vaccines spread AIDS or infertility spurred Kano and another heavily Muslim state, Zamfara, to boycott a long-term campaign to vaccinate millions.

Vaccination programs restarted in Nigeria in 2004 after an 11-month boycott. But the delay set back global eradication: The boycott was blamed for causing an outbreak that spread the disease across Africa and into the Middle East.

Nigeria case against Pfizer delayed

[Al-khiyal]

Pfizer executive gets bail in Nigeria trial over drug

KANO, Nigeria, March 5, 2008 (Reuters) - A Nigerian court granted bail on Tuesday to a former executive of the local arm of pharmaceuticals firm Pfizer in a protracted legal battle over a 1996 drug test that Nigeria says killed 11 children.

The government of northern Kano state has filed a lawsuit claiming $2 billion in damages and is pressing criminal charges against Pfizer over the testing of the antibiotic Trovan, which it says also left many children with permanent disabilities.

Pfizer denies all the charges. It says the children were killed or hurt by meningitis, which killed 12,000 children in six months that year.

Sam Ohuabunwa was one of three former executives of the Nigerian arm of Pfizer who were ordered arrested by a Kano High Court in December after they failed to appear for hearings.

Ohuabunwa was never actually detained, and was present in court on Tuesday when he was granted bail.

"I will simply comply with the normal procedure by granting him bail, which includes (guarantees of) 5 million naira and two sureties," said Judge Shehu Atiku.

The federal government has also filed separate civil and criminal lawsuits against Pfizer in the capital Abuja, claiming an additional $6.5 billion in damages.

The civil and criminal cases were launched by the state and federal governments in May 2007, but court hearings have remained stuck on technicalities, dragging on from one adjournment to the next. No substantive issue has been tackled.

Atiku had granted bail in January to another former member of Pfizer staff, Segun Dogunro, on health grounds.

On Tuesday, the court adjourned the case to April 28 when it would hear preliminary arguments, including a request for the extradition of three Americans involved in the clinical trial.