Pfizer in Nigeria

OK, so I don't know how much of this is true, but even if only some of it is actual fact this company deserves to be seriously hit by international law. I am sure there is something written somewhere about doing testing on humans without their consent.

Apparently Pfizer run a test with what was at the time an unregistered anti-meningitis drug on 200 children in the Kano State, Nigeria, in 1996. The name of this drug was Trovan, and although the Nigerian government claims that this test lead to more than 50 deaths, the pharmaceutical company says it was "only" 11 deaths.

"Only 11 deaths in 200 cases". Is that a joke? If so, it is a very bad taste joke. That is exactly 5.5% of the cases. And does not consider people who suffered serious side effects not leading to death. The use of the word "only" in this context is terribly wrong. As fas as I know 1 death in 10000 is considered acceptable for drug standards, but 1 in 20 cases isn't acceptable any way you look at it. No, the word "only" is definitely out of place.

I sincerely hope they acted in good faith, but what can I say? It sounds too much like an FDA-will-never-know test that abused a lax set of medical rules in a country where people count on foreign medical aid. That is as low as you can get.

Mr. C