The lingering Trovan saga between Kano State of Nigeria and pharmaceutical giants Pfizer came to an amicable end last on 30th July 2009 when the agreement to settle all the contending issues out of court was jointly signed by representatives of both parties in the presence of former Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon.
In a joint statement released at the ensuing press conference, the parties said, “We are pleased to announce that we have reached a final agreement to settle the Trovan litigation between Pfizer and the Kano State government. The parties agree that settlement is in the best interest of both parties, as it avoids the cost and distraction of protracted litigation and enables both of us to focus on our core missions and business.”
In financial terms, the total settlement is worth $75 million. The terms are that Pfizer would (1) establish a Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund of up to US$35 million from which study participants can receive financial support; (2) underwrite several healthcare initiatives chosen by the Kano State government that benefit the people of Kano State, totaling US$30 million over a period of time; and (3) reimburse Kano State for US$10 million in legal costs associated with the litigation.
Both parties have empanelled two independent Board of Trustees to administer and oversee the disbursement of funds with the following membership:
Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund:
Hon. Justice (Rtd.) S.M.A. Belgore
Bala Borodo, M.D.
Professor Isa Hashim
Muuta Ibrahim, M.D.
Prosper Ikechukwu Igboeli, M.D.
Hon. Justice (Rtd.) Abubakar Bashir Wali
Healthcare Related Programs Trust Fund:
Professor Shehu Galadanchi
Ibrahim A. Haruna
Adamu Jafiya
Adamu Aliyu Kiyawa
Habibu Sadauki, M.D.
Professor Auwalu Yadudu
It is noteworthy that the settlement is based on no admission of liability by Pfizer because so far no offence has been established against the pharmaceutical company in spite of several years of litigation. Also, Kano State will withdraw both the civil and criminal Trovan-related cases it filed against the company and various individuals.
In a separate statement, Pfizer’s Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel Brad Lerman said, “We have been a partner with the people and governments of Nigeria for more than 50 years. The company believes that a mutually agreeable resolution to the Trovan cases is the best way to continue that relationship and allow Pfizer and the Nigerian governments to focus on what matters - improving healthcare for all Nigerians.”
It is expected that the settlement will also lead to the withdrawal of the cases filed by the federal government in respect of the same Trovan trials of 1996. Answering a question at the press conference, General Yakubu Gowon who helped midwife the truce said the federal authorities gave him the impression that once Kano State had reached an agreement with Pfizer, the federal cases would subsequently be withdrawn.
It will be recalled that the cerebrospinal meningitis epidemic that struck Nigeria in 1996 took at least 12,000 lives over a six-month period, and affected more than 100,000 people.
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Making Political Capital Out Of Pfizer Settlement
Making Political Capital Out Of Pfizer Settlement
By
Musa Sani Yanusa
(musayanusa@gmail.com)
It is interesting how the handlers of Governor Shekarau’s image have been trying to make political capital out of the on-going settlement talks regarding the 1996 test of Pfizer’s drug, Trovan. The rumour in town is that the Kano State governor, not being eligible for re-election as governor after his second four-year term which expires in 2011, is casting his sights at the plum job of president of the federal republic. Structures are reportedly being put in place to facilitate the realization of this dream. No one can begrudge the governor his tall ambition. Has anyone ever devised a way of keeping the ant away from the sugar lick?
What rankles is the attempt to cash in on the current settlement talks to portray the governor as the sole malaika who has brought the chestnut out of the fire. To make the governor’s lionization look truly gargantuan, the claim is made by Sule Yau Sule, his director of media, in a syndicated article that 200 patients died in the trials. This is a typical devise used by desperate propagandists to create a storm in a tea cup. How could 200 people have died in a programme that had a total of 200 participants with 94 percent survival rate? Of course Mr. Sule was aware that only 11 people died on the whole – five from the Trovan group and six from those on the gold standard treatment. The 200 patients had been divided into two groups of 100 each, that is half on Trovan and the other half on the standard treatment. What the trials actually showed was that some of the patients were too far gone in the stage of the meningitis affliction that it was too late to help them. We can all recall that more than 12,000 other victims of the disease who did not have early access to medical help died in the epidemic.
The contentious points in the litigation would have been fully thrashed out in a full blown trial if the court cases had run their full course. But all those sympathetic to the cause of the participants felt that a long litigation was not a guarantee for success. What if the case was lost at the end of the day? That was why everyone concerned - civil society groups, lawyers, the federal and Kano State governments, Pfizer, the Trovan trial participants and public commentators all worked towards an amicable settlement. It is therefore ill-advised to attempt conducting a media trial of a case being settled out of court. It is equally immoral to distort facts and pronounce judgement on issues that would have been argued in court in a full trial.
But Nigerian politics is nothing if not inventively disingenuous. The quest for higher office is now being serviced with a mish-mash of untruths and crafty innuendos with the hope that our penchant for collective amnesia will seal the sleight of hand with a stamp of veracity. Mind you, I am not against the aspirations of Governor Shekarau. My attitude to the dour gentleman and many of his second-term colleagues in other states is that if they truly won the elections that returned them into office, then they must have been doing some things right in the eyes of their people.
The political landscape in the country now is replete with various manholes, bumps, booby traps and even landmines. Only Nigerian politicians have the required dare devilry to venture into the fray. The stakes in 2011 will be high for the simple reason that the people are fed up with the incompetence of successive governments. There is so much despondency in the land. The national currency, the naira, has been on a free fall for some time. While the dollar and the pound sterling are falling against other currencies, they are appreciating in Nigeria – which shows how bad our situation is. President Yar’ Adua’s seven-point agenda is good on paper but in terms of delivery it is something else. If a popularity poll is conducted today, the president’s rating will not be flattering, and that is putting it mildly. But that is not to say that the president has been idle. It is just an indication that so far his best is not enough.
To my knowledge, Shekarau has not achieved the kind of magic performed by the likes of Donald Duke in Cross River State or Babatunde Fasola in Lagos. If I had a say in the matter, I would advise the governor to try and beat the record of Audu Bako, the builder of modern Kano. It was Audu Bako that transformed Kano from a semi-urban trading town to a sprawling modern city. Today, people mention that name with reverence and a silent prayer for the repose of his people-friendly soul.
I don’t know if General Buhari still plans to run for the presidency in 2011 after the treachery of his party (ANPP’s) leadership in the last two years. If Buhari intends to run, can Shekarau beat him in a free and fair party primary? Buhari is not known to have a fat war chest (that is if he has any chest at all), but he is perceived as a man with plenty of integrity. Those who have had dealings with him, either when he was military head of state or after he was rudely shoved out of power, say that he is incorruptible. His only well advertised problem is his stubbornness.
Some analysts have however been calling for new faces and a reversal of the trend where certain people become known as professional presidential candidates in a country of 140 million people. There is merit in that call. America broke with its past of well articulated deceit and veiled racism and gave the world Barack Obama. The slogan was “Yes we can”. And yes, they did! With our can-do spirit, I have no doubt that Nigerians too can rise above our present state of pedestrian perambulation and rise to the challenge of nationhood by producing elected leaders that would be the envy of the rest of the free world.
The next general elections are two years away but already governance has stopped in many states as the incumbent governors struggle to get second term tickets. Alignments and realignments are going on all over the place. Some governors have already crossed over from their party to the ruling PDP (what a price to pay for marrying the president’s daughter!) How is the interest of the people served in all these moves? It is as if the goal of politics is self-serving power; power at all costs; power for the sake of power.
But watch out for the banana peels. The graveyard of Nigerian politics is full of the bones of erstwhile strutting political bulls who learnt too late the same lesson the moth learnt from the flame. By all means, let all aspiring players come out, but let no one insult our intelligence. I have nothing against Shekarau’s candidacy. He is yet to announce his intention to run for president but already the grapevine is buzzing with the news. Maybe if he achieves the status of a present day Audu Bako I might even campaign for him. But I would be doing so with my two eyes wide open, not based on the false lionization; not based on a puerile distortion of facts.
By
Musa Sani Yanusa
(musayanusa@gmail.com)
It is interesting how the handlers of Governor Shekarau’s image have been trying to make political capital out of the on-going settlement talks regarding the 1996 test of Pfizer’s drug, Trovan. The rumour in town is that the Kano State governor, not being eligible for re-election as governor after his second four-year term which expires in 2011, is casting his sights at the plum job of president of the federal republic. Structures are reportedly being put in place to facilitate the realization of this dream. No one can begrudge the governor his tall ambition. Has anyone ever devised a way of keeping the ant away from the sugar lick?
What rankles is the attempt to cash in on the current settlement talks to portray the governor as the sole malaika who has brought the chestnut out of the fire. To make the governor’s lionization look truly gargantuan, the claim is made by Sule Yau Sule, his director of media, in a syndicated article that 200 patients died in the trials. This is a typical devise used by desperate propagandists to create a storm in a tea cup. How could 200 people have died in a programme that had a total of 200 participants with 94 percent survival rate? Of course Mr. Sule was aware that only 11 people died on the whole – five from the Trovan group and six from those on the gold standard treatment. The 200 patients had been divided into two groups of 100 each, that is half on Trovan and the other half on the standard treatment. What the trials actually showed was that some of the patients were too far gone in the stage of the meningitis affliction that it was too late to help them. We can all recall that more than 12,000 other victims of the disease who did not have early access to medical help died in the epidemic.
The contentious points in the litigation would have been fully thrashed out in a full blown trial if the court cases had run their full course. But all those sympathetic to the cause of the participants felt that a long litigation was not a guarantee for success. What if the case was lost at the end of the day? That was why everyone concerned - civil society groups, lawyers, the federal and Kano State governments, Pfizer, the Trovan trial participants and public commentators all worked towards an amicable settlement. It is therefore ill-advised to attempt conducting a media trial of a case being settled out of court. It is equally immoral to distort facts and pronounce judgement on issues that would have been argued in court in a full trial.
But Nigerian politics is nothing if not inventively disingenuous. The quest for higher office is now being serviced with a mish-mash of untruths and crafty innuendos with the hope that our penchant for collective amnesia will seal the sleight of hand with a stamp of veracity. Mind you, I am not against the aspirations of Governor Shekarau. My attitude to the dour gentleman and many of his second-term colleagues in other states is that if they truly won the elections that returned them into office, then they must have been doing some things right in the eyes of their people.
The political landscape in the country now is replete with various manholes, bumps, booby traps and even landmines. Only Nigerian politicians have the required dare devilry to venture into the fray. The stakes in 2011 will be high for the simple reason that the people are fed up with the incompetence of successive governments. There is so much despondency in the land. The national currency, the naira, has been on a free fall for some time. While the dollar and the pound sterling are falling against other currencies, they are appreciating in Nigeria – which shows how bad our situation is. President Yar’ Adua’s seven-point agenda is good on paper but in terms of delivery it is something else. If a popularity poll is conducted today, the president’s rating will not be flattering, and that is putting it mildly. But that is not to say that the president has been idle. It is just an indication that so far his best is not enough.
To my knowledge, Shekarau has not achieved the kind of magic performed by the likes of Donald Duke in Cross River State or Babatunde Fasola in Lagos. If I had a say in the matter, I would advise the governor to try and beat the record of Audu Bako, the builder of modern Kano. It was Audu Bako that transformed Kano from a semi-urban trading town to a sprawling modern city. Today, people mention that name with reverence and a silent prayer for the repose of his people-friendly soul.
I don’t know if General Buhari still plans to run for the presidency in 2011 after the treachery of his party (ANPP’s) leadership in the last two years. If Buhari intends to run, can Shekarau beat him in a free and fair party primary? Buhari is not known to have a fat war chest (that is if he has any chest at all), but he is perceived as a man with plenty of integrity. Those who have had dealings with him, either when he was military head of state or after he was rudely shoved out of power, say that he is incorruptible. His only well advertised problem is his stubbornness.
Some analysts have however been calling for new faces and a reversal of the trend where certain people become known as professional presidential candidates in a country of 140 million people. There is merit in that call. America broke with its past of well articulated deceit and veiled racism and gave the world Barack Obama. The slogan was “Yes we can”. And yes, they did! With our can-do spirit, I have no doubt that Nigerians too can rise above our present state of pedestrian perambulation and rise to the challenge of nationhood by producing elected leaders that would be the envy of the rest of the free world.
The next general elections are two years away but already governance has stopped in many states as the incumbent governors struggle to get second term tickets. Alignments and realignments are going on all over the place. Some governors have already crossed over from their party to the ruling PDP (what a price to pay for marrying the president’s daughter!) How is the interest of the people served in all these moves? It is as if the goal of politics is self-serving power; power at all costs; power for the sake of power.
But watch out for the banana peels. The graveyard of Nigerian politics is full of the bones of erstwhile strutting political bulls who learnt too late the same lesson the moth learnt from the flame. By all means, let all aspiring players come out, but let no one insult our intelligence. I have nothing against Shekarau’s candidacy. He is yet to announce his intention to run for president but already the grapevine is buzzing with the news. Maybe if he achieves the status of a present day Audu Bako I might even campaign for him. But I would be doing so with my two eyes wide open, not based on the false lionization; not based on a puerile distortion of facts.
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