Nigeria: Pfizer and Kano opt for out of court settlement


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The outstanding court case between Kano, a northern Nigeria State, and Pfizer, a U.S drug firm, has been further postponed to 25th of May, 2009, and both parties have now agreed to sort things out away from the courtroom.

The outstanding court case between Kano, a northern Nigeria State, and Pfizer, a U.S drug firm, has been further postponed to 25th of May, 2009, and both parties have now agreed to sort things out away from the courtroom.

Representatives of both sides have come to a settlement but have yet to work out the details. “I want to report that broad and principal fundamental agreement has been reached between Kano State government and Pfizer,” said Anthony Idigbe, Pfizer’s lawyer.

Nigerian families in Kano had sued Pfizer saying that the company tested out an oral antibiotic labeled as Trovan on some 200 sick children, without first getting the consent of their parents. But Pfizer responded, saying that the tests were carried out with the approval of the Nigerian government and that the children’s parents were fully informed.

Nigerian federal government sued for an additional $6.5bn in 2007 but reports have claimed that the country is expected to withdraw its case if Kano reaches a settlement.

“They promised not to disclose the amounts involved until they sit down and negotiate how to implement the agreement. This is all what remains to do so that the victims will get some compensation. Money would also be given to a local hospital,” said Barrister Aliyu Umar, the Kano State lawyer.

When the firm tested an antibiotic on sick children during a meningitis epidemic that broke out in 1996, claiming the lives of 12,000 children in Nigeria in six months, Kano state parents blamed Pfizer for the deaths of 11 children and the injury of 181 others.

Also read: US court authorises Nigerian death suit against Pfizer

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