and left many others disabled.

 

The high court’s decision paves the way for the litigation to proceed in a federal court under the Alien Tort Statute that allows foreign citizens to pursue civil matters in the U.S. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say they brought the case to America because of the corrupt nature of Nigeria’s legal system.

 

The case stems from Pfizer’s testing of the antibiotic Trovan during a meningitis epidemic in Nigeria in 1996. In the wake of the children’s deaths and the realization that others were left blind, deaf, paralyzed, or brain-damaged, Nigerian authorities accused the drug company of using the country as a guinea pig for the new therapy. Pfizer officials insisted the deaths and injuries were the result of meningitis, but that didn’t stop them from settling a $75 million class action lawsuit stemming from the Trovan experiments in the African country.

 

Trovan was never approved for use by American children, and while the Food and Drug Administration approved it for adults in 1998, the regulatory agency later restricted its use after reports of liver failure in patients. The European Union banned the drug in 1999.

 

Details of the case became the inspiration for John Le Carre’s novel, The Constant Gardener, which was later made into a film starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.

-David Wallechinsky

 

Pfizer to Pay $75 Million Fine in “Constant Gardener” Case (AllGov)

Kano Trovafloxacin Trial Litigation (Wikipedia)