In Nigeria, another big lawsuit against Pfizer

ABUJA, Nigeria -- The Nigerian government filed a lawsuit Monday against Pfizer, asking for $7 billion in damages over allegations the pharmaceutical company conducted a drug experiment that led to deaths and disabilities among children more than a decade ago, court papers showed.

The civil case filed in the capital, Abuja, is separate from a legal challenge launched in the northern state of Kano that seeks $2 billion from Pfizer, although all the cases stem from the same mid-1990s drug study.

Pfizer has denied the charges in the Kano case, which are substantively similar to those in the Abuja-based suit.

In the civil suit filed in Kano, authorities allege Pfizer illegally conducted a drug experiment on 200 children during a meningitis epidemic in the state's main city, also called Kano, in 1996, resulting in deaths, brain damage, paralysis and slurred speech in many of the children.

Pfizer treated 100 meningitis-infected children with an experimental antibiotic, Trovan. Another 100 children, who were control patients in the study, received an approved antibiotic, ceftriaxone -- but the dose was lower than recommended, the families' lawyers alleged.

Up to 11 children in the study died, while others suffered physical disabilities and brain damage.

Pfizer has insisted its records show none of the deaths was linked to Trovan or substandard treatment. That civil suit is asking the judge to award Kano state $2 billion. Both that case and a related criminal action against Pfizer officers were postponed Monday after the plaintiff's counsel failed to show up for the initial court hearing.

The judge hearing the case said criminal proceedings lodged against company officers would now begin July 4, while a related civil case seeking the monetary damages was to begin July 9.

A federal court in Manhattan dismissed a 2001 lawsuit by disabled Nigerians who allegedly took part in the study, but the case is under appeal.

Islamic leaders in largely Muslim Kano had seized on the Pfizer controversy as evidence of a U.S.-led conspiracy. Rumors that polio vaccines spread AIDS or infertility spurred Kano and another heavily Muslim state, Zamfara, to boycott a long-term campaign to vaccinate millions.

Vaccination programs restarted in Nigeria in 2004, after an 11-month boycott. But the delay set back global eradication -- the boycott was blamed for causing an outbreak that spread the disease across Africa and into the Middle East.