THE multinational
drug company, Pfizer, placed an advertisement in the Daily Trust newspapers.
December 14, 2007 was the date. Page 19 was where it appeared. “How we crushed the rebellion of the moulds” was the title. A leg in heavy boot raised high in the air in readiness to crush was in the picture. A hapless mushroom was the victim. “Working for a healthier world” was the company’s claim for its action. The fiftieth anniversary of Pfizer’s establishment was what the advertisement marked.
For some indecipherable reasons, the first
thing that came into the
mind of this
writer as
soon as he saw the name Pfizer on the advert was the
case of the treatment of Spyro meningitis victims in Kano State which involves the drug company. The advert surely gave an impression and, in this season, it gave the wrong one. It seems that the big
company is boastful even in the face of a negative publicity; it wants to crush the rebellion of the Kano State government as regard its insistence that Pfizer had engaged in unethical practices leading to the death of many children as well as several others who are disabled.
All along, arguments have flied in the air between the two parties concerned. The Kano State government said Pfizer exploited the poor condition of its people to test a largely unproven drug on children suffering from Spiro meningitis, a disease capable of killing its victim in matter of hours. The government said the company had used innocent children as laboratory ‘guinea pigs’ In the process, several children died while many became disabled in one form or the other after they were treated with drugs that Pfizer claimed worked better than any available in the market. The company too has not been silent. It fired back that it did nothing wrong. Kano State government’s health ministry officials gave it approval before the sick were admitted to the Kano hospital beds. Officials of the Federal Ministry of Health were also in the know; they gave proper clearance. All things were done according to the rules, Pfizer shouted. Now the angle of official clearance in the matter should cause eyebrows to be raised among the discerning.
In the light of recent revelations indicating that government officials collaborated with foreign multinational companies to fleece the country, the fact that relevant government ministries were fully involved in the Kano is a matter of concern. If things had been handled right, much dust ought to have been raised as regard the role of health ministry officials. This has not happened. That’s on one hand. On the other, and like the well-known attitude of multinational companies in Nigeria which see them treating matters of concern to Nigerians with disdain, Pfizer had shown less than the needed concern in relation to the plight of the victims of its Kano operation. Now, it’s a good thing that the company is fifty years old. A similar matter occurred in the early 1960s and it could not have escaped the company’s attention. It should be in its record. The name ‘Philademider’ will therefore make sense to the management of Pfizer, not only in Nigeria but at its headquarters.
The years following the second world war had their problems. The war created them. One of these had to do with the health of the European population whose countries were the frontlines of the war. People suffered from the fallouts. Depression as well as other symptoms related to it was rampant. A drug company, still in existence, in Germany saw an opportunity to make big money. It launched a drug in 1957 which it claimed could deal effectively with this particular health problem. Philodemide was its name. By 1961 however, the company had stopped further production. It also withdrew it from shelves across Europe. In the years to follow, the drug company and the German government paid out money in compensation to many who had used the drug. Reason? Philodemide, its users alleged, created more problems for them thanit solved. ‘Philodemiders’ are people damaged by Philodemide. The victims were in their mother’s wombs when the drug was used. The baby when given birth subsequently emerged with disabilities. Shortened limbs – hands, legs, incomplete or deformed fingers as well as other parts of the body – were the physical manifestation. Pain and tears were caused the victims. Members of families were not left out of the misery. Families were torn apart. Shame and untold hardship turned out to be the lot of children whose mothers had used Philodemide. Till date home governments of the victims continue to pay them compensation in form of yearly stipends.
British government, for instance, currently pay a total of 60,000 pounds every year to the 450 Philodemiders on its record.
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