PFIZER RESPONDS TO DIVIDED RULING BY U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR 2ND CIRCUIT IN CASES RELATED TO TROVAN STUDY IN NIGERIA
January 30, 2009. NEW YORK - Pfizer released the following statement in reaction to today’s divided ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, remanding two cases (Abdullahi v. Pfizer Inc. and Adamu v. Pfizer Inc.) brought by Nigerian residents in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Plaintiffs are seeking damages under international law in connection with the company’s 1996 Trovan clinical study.
“The Appeals Court’s divided decision is only a procedural ruling that may return the cases to the District Court for further consideration; it is not a determination on their merits. Indeed, the strong dissent by one of the judges may be grounds for further appellate proceedings.
“Pfizer remains confident that it will prevail in these cases, and is weighing its options on how to best respond to this decision.
“The 1996 Trovan clinical study in Kano was conducted with the approval of the Nigerian government, and consent of the participants’ parents or guardians, and was consistent with both international and Nigerian laws.
“Pfizer has great sympathy for everyone who suffered during the devastating meningitis epidemic in 1996. The company has said all along that all clinical evidence points to the fact that any deaths or injuries were the direct result of the illness, and not the treatment provided to patients in the Pfizer study. With a survival rate of 94.4%, Trovan helped save lives and was at least as effective as the best treatment available at Kano’s Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH). For patients who did not participate in the Trovan investigative study, the survival rate was slightly less than 90%.”