Pfizer to be called on carpet in Nigeria for experimenting on children
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
Nicole Perlroth, Forbes.com
August 12, 2008
After years of legal maneuvering, Pfizer may soon face its Nigerian guinea pigs in court.
What if a drug company experimenting on critically ill children doesn’t get the proper parental consent, 11 of those children die and a whistleblower is fired?
Those are the charges leveled against Pfizer in a legal battle that has dragged on for the past seven years in Manhattan federal court and in Nigeria, where the government is seeking $8.5 billion in restitution and damages–and jail terms for various Pfizer officials, including former chief executive William Steere.
Things may come to a head soon. A federal appeals court is expected to rule on whether the children’s parents can go after Pfizer in New York. Meanwhile, to avoid what’s shaping up to be an ugly court battle, Pfizer is said to have offered to settle with the Nigerian government for $150 million, plus money to modernize and equip a Nigerian infectious disease hospital.