Pfizer sued by Nigerian parents for illegally testing antibiotics on sick kids.
West Palm Beach, FL (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–On Friday, January 30, 2009, a federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit against one of the largest U.S. drug companies, Pfizer. The U.S. Court of Appeals, for the 2nd Circuit in New York, ruled in favor of the Nigerian families who were represented by their legal teams in court. The lawsuits, filed by attorneys for the parents of Nigerian children, were dismissed by a lower court judge, who cited the cases should have been brought in Nigeria. This landmark ruling by the appellate court will now allow Nigerian parents and children to seek compensation for their damages and injuries in United States court rooms.
According to court documents, the families claim Pfizer tested an antibiotic, called Trovan, on seriously ill children without their knowledge and consent during one of the largest meningitis epidemics in Nigerian history. Lawyers for the families claim, during the 1996 unauthorized clinical trial of Trovan on Nigerian kids by Pfizer, 11 children died and many others developed brain damage and disabling arthritis. JusticeNewsFlash.com news from West Palm Beach personal injury litigators.
The lawsuit claims Pfizer, the number one drug company in the world in sales who just bought Wyeth, violated international laws by going oversees and illegally testing on unknowing and unsuspecting sick children. The Washington Post previously reported on the heinous actions of the U.S. drug conglomerate based in New York. Apparently, Pfizer experimented on 200 sick children at a makeshift epidemic camp in Kano, Nigeria claiming a falsified ethics approval letter was sufficient to use as consent. Pfizer proceeded to use the experimental drug on the already devastated kids without signed consent forms. Trovan was never approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) www.fda.gov for American children. The FDA approved Trovan for adult use in 1998, but after reports of liver failure, posted severe restrictions with its use on adult patients in America. The European Union banned the drug in 1999, and the Nigerian government remains targeting Pfizer with criminal and civil legal actions. The Nigerian government is seeking over $8 billion in damages through their legal system.
JusticeNewsFlash.com news from West Palm Beach personal injury litigators.