wait...so i think this is the first time i realized that the Nigerian government is representing the families affected by the 1996 Pfizer meningitis trials in Kano. i blogged about this case briefly sometime back. as of Tuesday, the Nigerian government, representing these unfortunate families, has decided to settle out of court with Pfizer. hmmmm, how convenient for enlargement of federal government coffers.

why, again, is the Nigerian government representing these families (scratches head)? i am all for government helping the needs of the less fortunate, but it seems that in the interests of these familes and the Nigerian government can and probably do conflict. I am not terribly familiar with the details of this case, since such info is not being broadly distributed to the public....but it seems like a better course would have been to hold two trials (unless I am in the dark and this is what is in fact going on...). One trial would be Nigeria v. Pfizer and would give the federal government the opportunity to sue the company for operating such a drug trial without proper permission from the Nigerian government. The second would be that of the Kano families v. Pfizer in which the drug company would be charged for crimes they committed against these individuals. Let me know what you think on this one....or please share other resources on this particular issue....

justice may remain elusive for these families after being pimped by large pharma (Pfizer) and now quite possibly, their own government. well, i guess this is the end of the road for this particular case. quite unfortnately though, this is an increasing trend on the part of pharmaceuticals to test their product in developing nations. trying to get my hands on Sonia Shah's "the body hunters," which I plan to devour and share after i get thru a brutal exam next week.