Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and plaintiffs settle lawsuits related to clinical trial of antibiotic Trovan

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and plaintiffs in the cases related to the clinical trial of antibiotic Trovan, have settled the lawsuits.

Although the suits have been resolved, the tragedy continues for children affected by the trial. The suits alleged that Pfizer conducted clinical trials of the controversial antibiotic "Trovan" on some 200 children without the parents consent. Pfizer says that the 11 children who died during the trial were suffering from meningitis, but the parents disputed this.

Trovan has since been barred from pediatric use and is only available in the US for adult populations, due to side affects.

It looked like the plaintiffs in the case were destined to lose in their next court challenge (at the US Supreme Court), and decided to settle the case.

According to a report by Dow Jones Newswires, "Pfizer Inc. (PFE) said Tuesday it has settled lawsuits stemming from a 1996 clinical trial of the antibiotic Trovan in which 11 Nigerian children died and others suffered health problems.

The New York-based drug maker said the terms of the settlement were confidential. A plaintiffs' attorney in the settlement couldn't be reached.

Pfizer conducted the Trovan trial during in outbreak of cerebral spinal meningitis in Nigeria, with the goal of providing a medicine to treat the disease. Families of the children and the Nigerian government accused the company of experimenting on children without proper consent. Pfizer has maintained it conducted the trial in consultation with Nigerian authorities, and that the deaths were caused by meningitis.

Pfizer previously reached settlements with government bodies in Nigeria."

http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=1139967


There is more information about these cases via Law.com (ALM):

"According to Nigerian press reports, the trust fund can pay a maximum of $35,000 per family to those able to prove death or permanent disability due to the 1996 trial of Trovan, an antibiotic that has since been restricted to adult emergency care in America because of its damaging side effects.

Pfizer spokesman Christopher Loder said the settlement is confidential and he could not discuss if there were any other terms. Plaintiffs' lawyer Peter Safirstein of Milberg also declined comment beyond the statement.

The suit accused Pfizer of using the experimental drug without the consent of the parents, and of not telling the families that another acceptable drug was available and was being used by Doctors Without Borders in Nigeria to treat the epidemic. Pfizer denied their allegations.

The families battled Pfizer all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and back after U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley, III, had dismissed the suit in 2005. As of a hearing on Friday, the case was still in the pre-trial motion stage.

But earlier this month the plaintiffs' cause took a bleak turn when the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled en banc in a different case that claims against a corporation cannot be brought under the Alien Tort Statute. Rather than risk another dismissal and another appeal that was destined to lose at the next level, the plaintiffs agreed on Friday to settle all claims both in the U.S. and Nigeria.

Pfizer established the $35 million Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund as part of settling a suit in 2007 brought by the Kano state government, where the drug trial took place. That settlement also is confidential."


http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202482854504&Pfizer_Settles_Lawsuits_Over_Drugs_Trials_on_Children_in_Nigeria_

200 Largest Pharmaceutical Companies in the World
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About Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE)

Pfizer, Inc (NYSE: PFE)

About Pfizer, Inc*

235 East 42nd Street, New York, New York 10017
(212) 733-2323

Reveune: $67.8 billion (2010)

I.R.S. Employer Identification Number:
13-5315170


Pfizer Inc. (which may be referred to as Pfizer, the Company, we, us or our) is a research-based, global biopharmaceutical company. We apply science and our global resources to improve health and well-being at every stage of life. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of medicines for people and animals. Our diversified global health care portfolio includes human and animal biologic and small molecule medicines and vaccines, as well as nutritional products and many of the world’s best-known consumer health care products. Every day, we work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as the world’s leading biopharmaceutical company, we also collaborate with other biopharmaceutical companies, health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world.
The Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on June 2, 1942.

On October 15, 2009, we completed our acquisition of Wyeth. The acquisition was a cash-and-stock transaction valued, based on the closing market price of Pfizer’s common stock on the acquisition date, at $50.40 per share of Wyeth common stock, or a total of approximately $68 billion.

In response to the challenging operating environment, we have taken many steps to strengthen our Company and better position ourselves for the future. The most important of these steps was the acquisition of Wyeth, which has transformed us into a more diversified health care company, with product offerings in human and animal health, including vaccines, biologics, small molecules and nutrition across developed and emerging markets. We believe that our acquisition of Wyeth meaningfully advances, in a single transaction, each of the strategic priorities that we have identified and pursued over the last two years, including:

• Enhancing the in-line and patent-protected pipeline portfolio in key “invest to win” areas of
research where there exist significant unmet medical needs and significant opportunities for innovation and market leadership, such as oncology, pain, inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease, psychoses and diabetes as well as the critical technologies of vaccines and biologics;

• Becoming a top-tier player in biotherapeutics by 2015;

• Accelerating growth in emerging markets;

• Creating new opportunities for established products;

• Investing in complementary businesses; and

• Creating a lower, more flexible cost base for the combined company.

*Source: Form 10-K

. . . . .








Pfizer and plaintiffs settle lawsuits
http://flucrazy.blogspot.com/2011/02/pfizer-inc-nyse-pfe-and-plaintiffs.html



200 Largest Pharmaceutical Companies in the World
http://flucrazy.blogspot.com/2011/02/flucrazy-200-200-largest-pharmaceutical.html

Report says Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) will pay approx $ 330 million to settle claims related to the Prempro menopause drug.

A report by Bloomberg says Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) will pay approximately $ 330 million to settle claims related to the Prempro menopause drug.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-27/pfizer-settles-arkansas-prempro-case-before-retrial-over-punitive-damages.html

"The drugmaker faced more than 10,000 claims that its menopause drugs caused breast cancer prior the settlements, which were reached during the past five months, the people said. That number included more than 8,000 cases consolidated in federal court in Arkansas and other cases in state courts in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Minnesota."

Pfizer is facing numerous suits claiming that its hormone replacement therapy caused breast cancer.