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Nigeria – 11 years on, Pfizer defends itself tooth and nail
[mis à jour le 7 June 2007 à 10h49]
Following the lodging of a complaint by the Nigerian federal government accusing the Pfizer laboratory of using an anti-meningitis drug without the permission of the local authorities, Yannick Plétan, vice-president of Pfizer France’s medical division has now reviewed the circumstances under which this clinical trial took place.
The affair dates right back to 1996. An “extremely serious” meningococcal meningitis epidemic was raging in Nigeria. Over 16,500 people would lose their lives. At this time an antibiotic produced by Pfizer – trovafloxacin – was in the final stage of clinical development.
“Faced with an epidemic of this magnitude, our teams left for Nigeria”, explains Yannick Plétan. “The molecule in question which, it’s true, did not yet have drug status, had already been subject to an evaluation conducted on 5,000 patients, both adults and children, in the United States, Europe and Japan. The aim of this study was to determine if the molecule was as effective as ceftriaxon, which at that time constituted the gold standard”… in other words, was the reference treatment.
In total, two hundred patients – two groups of 100 – were included in the study. The results, according to Pfizer, showed that using trovafloxacin produced a 94.4% survival rate, slightly higher than that of ceftriaxon (93.8%). “Trovafloxacin therefore proved to be as effective”.
The “precedent” set by the Kano State authorities
In addition to its accusations regarding the ethics of the study, in its complaint the government of Nigeria also highlights the fact that this trial led to the deaths of 11 children and caused cerebral lesions, paralysis, deafness and problems with speaking among others involved. As Yannick Plétan points out, these are all classic after-effects of meningitis.
According to Yannick Plétan, “Pfizer conducted this trial in the correct manner. In terms of clinical and medical research, all that should have been done was done. I am genuinely astonished that 10 years later legal proceedings should be taken. The pursuit of financial gain must not be concealed”.
Once again, the Muslim authorities of the State of Kano find themselves in the headlines. If you remember, at the start of 2004 it was these authorities who called a halt to vaccination campaigns against polio. To support their decision they brandished the imaginary threat of deliberate contamination with HIV-AIDS by American interests. The decision was catastrophic. As a direct result of this propaganda operation 14 African countries that had been free of the polio virus up to that point became re-infected.
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