Pfizer tested an unapproved drug on 200 Nigerian children — 11 died, families got $75M

In 1996, a devastating meningitis epidemic swept through Kano, Nigeria, one of the poorest regions of the country. Thousands of children were dying. Pfizer saw an opportunity to test Trovan (trovafloxacin), a new experimental antibiotic that had never been used in children. The company sent a team to Kano and enrolled approximately 200 children in a clinical trial, comparing Trovan against an older antibiotic. The children did not receive the standard WHO-recommended treatment, which had a much higher survival rate.

Eleven children died — five who received Trovan, six who received the comparison drug. Other survivors suffered blindness, deafness, and brain damage. An investigation by The Washington Post later revealed that the trial was conducted without authorization from the Nigerian government and without informed consent from the children's parents. The lead investigator, Dr. Abdulhamid Isa Dutse, had falsified and backdated an ethics approval letter. Parents said they were told the children were receiving free medical treatment, not experimental drugs.

Families of the victims sued Pfizer in US courts between 2002 and 2005, but the cases were initially dismissed. In January 2009, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled the families could sue under the Alien Tort Statute. On 30 July 2009, Pfizer settled with the State of Kano for $75 million. Two remaining federal lawsuits were settled in 2011. Pfizer admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay compensation. The Trovan trial became a landmark case in research ethics, cited as an example of exploiting a public health crisis to test an unproven drug on vulnerable populations.