Pfizer Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit in Nigeria

In 1999, the Food and Drug Administration severely restricted use of Trovan. The European Union banned its use altogether at about the same time.

The Post articles in 2000 touched off street demonstrations and expressions of outrage in Nigeria. The country's health minister appointed a commission to investigate. It quickly submitted a detailed report, but the findings were not released.

In May 2006, The Post obtained and published the Health Ministry's report, which concluded that Pfizer had violated Nigerian law, the international Declaration of Helsinki and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. The commission concluded that Pfizer did not obtain formal government approval to conduct the trial.

Previously confidential documents, recently obtained by The Post, show the May 2006 article set in motion the current lawsuit. Within days, the Nigerian government launched a criminal investigation. "The people in the federal Justice Ministry had no idea about this," said Babatunde Irukera, an attorney for the ministry. "People in government at that point said, 'Oh my God, we have to deal with this.' "

On June 19, 2006, Bayo Ojo, then Nigeria's attorney general, wrote to the Nigerian health minister to request a copy of the report. Two days later, a memo signed by Nigerian health officials advocated steps to "salvage the situation." Among them: "Take immediate legal action against Pfizer for deceiving and violating the fundamental human rights of Nigerians."

In October, Ojo arrived at the company's New York City headquarters and demanded a monetary settlement. A short time later, the company was contacted by attorneys from Chicago and St. Louis who identified themselves as working on behalf of the attorney general.

"The situation was bizarre," said Atiba D. Adams, a Pfizer attorney. "The private attorneys were not interested in Pfizer's perspective on what happened in 1996. There was absolutely no explanation and no information about what this 'compensation' was to be used for."

Adams said Pfizer tried to reach the attorney general for clarification. When that failed, Pfizer executives went to the top -- Pfizer's Nigerian representatives met privately with President Olusegun Obasanjo.

An infuriated Ojo thought Pfizer was making an end run. On Dec. 27, he complained to Pfizer that the meetings with the president raised "ethical questions" and directed the company to deal solely with him and his representatives. Pfizer executives wrote back that "any discussions between our country office and the president or any other government official about the Kano matter is not a break in protocol but consistent with Pfizer's obligation to remain a good corporate citizen."

Obasanjo and Ojo left office in May. The charges against Pfizer were filed in the final days of their tenure. Prosecutors said charges pending in federal and state court include forgery, fraud, possession of an illegal drug, unauthorized practice of medicine, criminal conspiracy and voluntarily causing grievous harm.

The charges do not include bribery, but Nigerian prosecutors said in a government memo obtained by The Post that Pfizer operatives bribed or attempted to bribe Nigerian officials on a number of occasions in 1996. Five years later, the memo states, Pfizer tried to bribe head of the commission that investigated the trial, Abdulsalami Nasidi. The memo did not specify who made the offer, the amount offered or the time the alleged event occurred.

Reached by telephone in Geneva, Ojo said: "They wanted the report to be in their favor; they wanted him to suppress the facts."

Adams said Pfizer was unaware of the bribery allegations until given a copy of the memo by The Post. In a written statement, Pfizer said: "These allegations have never been made in the litigation or at any time since the Trovan study was conducted 11 years ago, and we are aware of no evidence to support them."

Prosecutors said they withdrew their federal lawsuit July 20 and replaced it the same day with a more detailed complaint, but a Pfizer spokesman said the company has no evidence of the new lawsuit.