Pfizer Accused of Unapproved Testing on Children

A panel of Nigerian medical experts issued a report concluding that Pfizer, Inc., illegally tested its unapproved drug, Trovan, on children and infants during a 1996 epidemic of deadly meningitis in Kano, Negeria. Pfizer contends that its use of the unapproved drug was purely for philanthropic reasons, but the Nigerian panel called it a “clear case of exploitation of the ignorant,” in its report which was recently obtained by the Washington Post. The panel noted that Pfizer pulled out of Nigeria when its trial was complete even though “the epidemic was still raging.”