A federal High Court in Abuja yesterday issued a warrant of arrest for eight former directors of a pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer Specialties Ltd, AllAfrica.com reports. Those affected were directors who were on the board of the subsidiary when a controversial Trovan clinical trial took place in Kano in which over 200 persons, mostly children, died allegedly as a result of the unapproved trial.

Already, a former medical director of the company, Dr. Dogunro, has been arrested by the police. Others affected by the warrant of arrest, including the immediate past managing director, Ngozi Edozien, are said to be on the run. The site reports that corporate headquarters of Pfizer in Lagos was padlocked throughout yesterday, while most of its management staff refused to turn up at their duty post, apparently to avoid being picked up by security agents.

Both the federal and Kano State governments had instituted criminal charges against Pfizer over its alleged role in the deaths of the children who received the drug during a meningitis epidemic in 1996. They are claiming $700 million in damages and restitution from Pfizer. The government alleges Pfizer researchers selected 200 children and infants from crowds in Kano and gave about half of the group an untested anti-biotic, Trovan, without any approval from any authority. The criminal charges had also named Pfizer Nigeria subsidiary and the eight former senior staff. Earlier reports also indicated Nigeria was considering seeking the arrest of former Pfizer global directors, such as former ceo Bill Steere.

Trovan came to public disclosure in 2000 when The Washington Post published the result of a year-long investigation into pharmaceutical testing in the developing world. And Nigerians who were confronted with the shocking views went to the streets demonstrating and demanding for investigation. The families of the children who Pfizer used allegedly as laboratory guinea pigs were led to believe and in fact understood that the defendants were providing their children with voluntary relief, clearly focused humanitarian medical intervention and nothing more, the suit had said.

Pfizer is currently contesting the case, but has tried to quash an investigation committee’s report. The drugmaker has consistently maintained that all necessary approvals were sought and obtained from relevant federal and state agencies before administering the drug in Kano State. “We did the right thing and we answered the country’s call,” the then managing director, Ngozi Edozien, said recently.

[UPDATE: “Pfizer is extremely troubled by reports that one of its former employees in Nigeria, Segun Dogunro, a medical doctor, has been arrested by police from Kano. We urge the Kano Government to release him immediately, and to ensure that he is safe while he remains in the government's custody," Pfizer says in a statement. “This arrest was conducted in clear violation of the laws of Nigeria. No summons or other legal process was served by the Kano Government on Dr. Dogunro, and there was no lawful basis to take him into custody.

“Pfizer has already challenged the validity of an order issued by the Kano Court authorizing the arrest of current and former Pfizer staff in Nigeria, as the order was based on the untrue assumption that these defendants had been served summonses and were required to appear in Court. Summonses have not been properly served and, therefore, these defendants were not required to appear in Court. Pfizer continues to emphasize, in the strongest terms, that the 1996 Trovan clinical trial helped save lives, was conducted with the approval of Nigerian authorities, consent of the families involved, and consistent with the laws of Nigeria.”]

But the Federal Ministry of Health, Kano State Ministry of Health and NAFDAC have denied approving the administration of the drug in Kano. The case comes up today.

Source: AllAfrica