Pfizer Drug Suit :: essays research papers

Pfizer and the Nigerian Trovan SuitThere has been a animosity about the testal testing of the medicine Trovan (trovafloxacin), by Pfizer, a major pharmaceutical company. Pfizer held clinical trials of the drug in Kano, Nigeria, during the 1996 epidemic of bacterial meningitis. The experiments were conducted on 200 children and were said to be successful. Recently, 30 Nigerian families of the children wontd in the experiments filed a drive against Pfizer claiming they had violated laws by not obtaining permission from the families. (Reliefweb) This lawsuit is unprecedented. I believe Pfizer handled this experiment with good intentions and the press, namely the Washington Post, has below the belt portrayed them.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently restricted the use of the antibiotic, Trovan, after it has been proven to cause liver failure and a downhearted number of deaths when prescribed for many types of infections. Doctors were warned to reserve the use of T rovan for use wholly in the treatment of patients who meet very specific requirements. (Branch Law) Although it is harmful when use for certain ailments, Pfizer reports that Trovan has proven to be effective in treating meningococcal meningitis. This was determined during the experiments in Nigeria which were supervised by both American and Nigerian doctors. (Pfizer)This experiment took piazza in Africa because of its recurring meningitis epidemic, which kills thousands of people. Pfizer took the opportunity to compare Trovan with ceftrixone, which was the commonly used drug at the time, to prove its effectiveness. One hundred patients were given Trovan and another hundred ceftrixone. In each group ninety-four percent of patients survived. This mortality localise of 6% for both patient groups was lower than that seen in patients with non-epidemic meningitis (range 6-10%), and lower than the boilersuit fatality rate for this particular epidemic (10-30%).(Pfizer) The incidence of side make while using Trovan was not any higher than with ceftrixone. Oral Trovan proved to be a very safe, useful and promising treatment for this indisposition as compared to using other methods, which had to be given intravenously and could extend hepatitis or HIV. Pfizer states that, The trial was designed and conducted in accordance with good medical examination practice and ethical norms. They also said that both the Nigerian Ministry of health and a local Nigerian ethics committee approved the experiment and a copy of this was sent to the FDA. Prior to treatment, informed consent was obtained.