Nigeria Ordered To Stop Harassing Pfizer
7 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 16th, 2008 // 2:05 pm
The High Court of Lagos granted an order restraining the Kano and Lagos States police from harassing the drugmaker’s Nigeria operation, and current and former employees - awarded Pfizer about $4,200 in damages, according a press release from the drugmaker.
The move comes as both Kano State and the Federal Government press their legal battle against Pfizer over a clinical trial for its Trovan antibiotic in 1996, which allegedly killed 200 children in Kano. Although AllAfrica recently carried a report citing an unnamed government attorney that the number of children injured was inflated and that settlement talks are again under way.
While the Court granted the restraining order, the drugmaker acknowleged the court didn’t rule for the company on the issues of violations of constitutional and human rights. Pfizer said it will consider all legal options on the latter issues, including a possible appeal. We have asked Pfizer for a copy of the order.
Nonetheless, a Pfizer spokesman e-mailed us a statement saying: “This is a victory for the rule of law in Nigeria and sends a clear message that the government must abide by its own laws and procedures. It is unfortunate that in pressing its legal cases against Pfizer, the Nigerian government has improperly interfered with Pfizer’s business and the lives of Nigerian citizens who are current and former company employees.”
Last September, Pfizer filed a motion in the Lagos High Court - where it previously won a stay of proceedings in the Kano criminal case due in part to the lack of proper service - challenging Kano State’s authority to serve summonses or arrest defendants living in Lagos without permission from the Lagos Court, as required by the Nigerian Constitution, according to Pfizer.
Pfizer’s motion also petitioned the Court to restrain the ability of the Kano and Lagos police to harass, molest, or treat inhumanly any current or former Pfizer employee, or disrupt in any way Pfizer’s business in Nigeria.
“Pfizer is firmly committed to the rule of law and will continue to exercise its rights to ensure that all legal proceedings are conducted fairly and properly,” says the spokesman, adding that Pfizer stands by its 1996 Trovan clinical study, which was conducted with the approval of the Nigerian government, consent of the families or guardians of participants, and consistent with the laws of Nigeria.
anon
Ahh, Bless!
Poor old genuine, blameless, never ever been sued for fraud, wealthy, drug dealing, powerful, government influencing, harrassed and totally innocent, Pfizer.
anon
who just (innocently) happened to get away with everything yet AGAIN!
Chris
Ever done business in Nigeria anon? My guess is not.
Paul
Here you have a company who was accused of everything under the sun and after lots of investigations and the court of law was found to be clean.
What’s wrong with that? Other posters never give credit for anything good. be happy that it turns out they did not do all those bad things…unless your little voice is telling you that you wish people would have been hurt so you can make your point?
HorusCat
Chris,
You are right on the money. Anywhere in Africa for that matter. My docs here at the university have a program in Africa–they get meds from various drug companies. They BEG the companies to give them the meds directly, because if they go through government channels they never make it to the patient. They get sold and the money is pocketed by corrupt government officials. Pfizer sends millions of dollars worth of Diflucan to Africa for AIDS patients. Unfortunately, much of that may not ever reach the patient. Perhaps anon can do something about that.
HorusCat
And interestingly enough, Trovan is a great antibiotic with unacceptable side effects. We might not have such tremendous need for ever more powerful antibiotics if people didn’t insist on getting antibiotics for viral infections and actually followed the instructions for taking them.
Paul
Long story short…
A while back I was involved with a drug donation program to an african country. Several pharma companies gave millions of dollars in much needed drugs.
The government of that country confiscated the drugs and used them to play politics against one of the ethnic factions there. Also, they took a lot of the drugs (for AIDS) and sold them to unscrupulous wholesalers in Europe who sold them there for a huge profit.
Winners: Governments, crooked government officials, european wholesalers
Losers: African people, pharma companies