Pfizer’s Dirty Tricks in Nigeria

Medical Monopoly Musings #56
Pfizer’s Dirty Tricks in Nigeria

“Back in 2001, thirty Nigerian families had sued Pfizer in federal court, saying the company conducted an unethical clinical trial of an antibiotic on their children. The suit referred to a letter from the hospital saying the study had been approved by the ethics committee, and the suit claimed that Pfizer had backdated the letter. Moreover, a Pfizer infectious disease specialist had repeatedly told Pfizer management that the company was violating international law and medical ethics standards. He was subsequently dismissed and later settled with the company, according to other newspaper reports,” writes Peter Rost (Pfizer whistleblower).

I went to verify Rost’s reference here…and what an interesting rabbit hole this went down!

Keep in mind, Pfizer is our leading criminal organization in Big Pharma according to fines paid. (See #32.) This includes paying almost $100 million for breaking the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and bribery. Past behavior is best indicator of future behavior…

The case in question has to do with Trovan, an antibiotic that was used to treat meningitis. Eleven children died in the Nigerian trial.

The PR firms went to work. "Trovan unquestionably saved lives, and Pfizer strongly disagrees with any suggestion that the company conducted its study in an unethical manner," Pfizer said in a statement. The strategy is always blanket denial.

This despite Pfizer even admitting later that the backdated ethics committee letter was “incorrect.” Yet, forging letters was far from the extent of their crimes.

According to the Washington Post, a Nigerian panel found that Pfizer's experiment was "an illegal trial of an unregistered drug," and a "clear case of exploitation of the ignorant."

The head of this panel, Abudulsalami Nasidi, said that he had been the target of unspecified death threats.

Trovan would later be approved in the USA in 1998, selling $160 million in the first year. But in 1999, it was associated with liver damage and at least six deaths. The FDA severely restricted its use. European regulators banned it altogether. It clearly was not a safe drug for adults, let alone for children.

The case dragged on for over a decade. WikiLeaks published documents showing that in 2009 Pfizer representatives agreed to settle with Kano state in Nigeria for $75 million, brought down from the asked for $150 million. How they pressured the Nigerian government is the most interesting part:

“According to [Pfizer country manager Enrico] Liggeri, Pfizer had hired investigators to uncover corruption links to Federal Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa to expose him and put pressure on him to drop the federal cases. He said Pfizer's investigators were passing this information to local media...A series of damaging articles detailing Aondoakaa's 'alleged' corruption ties were published in February and March. Liggeri contended that Pfizer had much more damaging information on Aondoakaa and that Aondoakaa's cronies were pressuring him to drop the suit for fear of further negative articles.”

Yep, Pfizer hired investigators to find evidence of corruption on the attorney general in order to convince him to drop legal action.

In addition, the Guardian wrote, “Pfizer and the Nigerian authorities had signed a confidentiality agreement. ‘The withdrawal of the [$6 billion federal] case, as well as the terms of settlement, is a highly guarded secret by the parties involved in the negotiation.”

Bad science, check. Forgery, check. Death threats, check. Bribery, check. Finding and using leverage, check. Spinning everything in the media to be the good guy, check.

Justice…not really. In 2011, four families received $175,000 each from a $35 million fund created from the settlement. Yet, this was just a small fraction of what Pfizer made off this drug.

Did this make them change their ways at all? It’s just the cost of doing business as usual.

Do #blacklivesmatter when it comes to the medical cartel?

Should Pfizer be defunded? (They’ve received over half a billion dollars in Federal, state and local subsidies. In 2000 to 2015 they also received almost $9 billion in federal contracts.)

Pfizer…now working hard to bring you a COVID vaccine!

But don’t worry, while Pfizer is a criminal organization multiple times over, the “vaccine halo” protects this area from possibly being defiled, because everyone knows vaccines are safe and effective.

References:
Rost, P. (2006). The whistleblower: Confessions of a healthcare hitman. Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/06/AR2006050601338.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/world/africa/12nigeria.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/30/business/families-sue-pfizer-on-test-of-antibiotic.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/did-pfizer-bribe-its-way-out-of-criminal-charges-in-nigeria/68495/
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/dec/09/wikileaks-cables-pfizer-nigeria
https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/prog.php?parent=pfizer
https://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?combDuns=001326495&sortp=r&detail=-1&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO
https://www.pfizer.com/science/coronavirus/vaccine