Pfizer Inc. will pay up to $75 million in a settlement for a long-running lawsuit over a 1996 clinical study in Africa.
The company will pay $30 million to start health-care initiatives in Kano state in Nigeria and reimburse the state $10 million for legal costs.
The study of the drug Trovan was conducted during Nigeria's worst meningitis epidemic in history. The epidemic killed at least 12,000 and affected more than 100,000 people. Lawsuits against the company have said Pfizer violated human-rights standards by experimenting on children without their consent. Pfizer has said all along that the study had the approval of the Nigerian government and the consent of children's families.
Lawsuits against the company alleged that rather than give the children proven therapies against meningitis, Pfizer chose select groups and gave them doses of Trovan, an antibiotic that hadn't been tested on humans and was known to have life-threatening side effects.
Pfizer has said that results of the study showed the drug had the same 6% fatality rate as ceftriaxone, another drug used to treat meningitis.
As part of the deal, Kano state will dismiss the civil and criminal Trovan-related cases it has filed against Pfizer and certain individuals. Pfizer continues to deny any wrongdoing or liability in connection with the study.
Pfizer will also establish a Healthcare/Meningitis Fund, from which participants of the study can get financial support. The fund will have a six-member board that includes three members chosen by Pfizer and three chosen by Kano's government. It could dispense up to $35 million, but the final amount given out will depend on the number of claims submitted, it said.
The company will pay $30 million to start health-care initiatives in Kano state in Nigeria and reimburse the state $10 million for legal costs.
The study of the drug Trovan was conducted during Nigeria's worst meningitis epidemic in history. The epidemic killed at least 12,000 and affected more than 100,000 people. Lawsuits against the company have said Pfizer violated human-rights standards by experimenting on children without their consent. Pfizer has said all along that the study had the approval of the Nigerian government and the consent of children's families.
Lawsuits against the company alleged that rather than give the children proven therapies against meningitis, Pfizer chose select groups and gave them doses of Trovan, an antibiotic that hadn't been tested on humans and was known to have life-threatening side effects.
Pfizer has said that results of the study showed the drug had the same 6% fatality rate as ceftriaxone, another drug used to treat meningitis.
As part of the deal, Kano state will dismiss the civil and criminal Trovan-related cases it has filed against Pfizer and certain individuals. Pfizer continues to deny any wrongdoing or liability in connection with the study.
Pfizer will also establish a Healthcare/Meningitis Fund, from which participants of the study can get financial support. The fund will have a six-member board that includes three members chosen by Pfizer and three chosen by Kano's government. It could dispense up to $35 million, but the final amount given out will depend on the number of claims submitted, it said.
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