Still controversy trails Pfizer clinical test in Kano
But Chairman of Pfizer/Kano State Government Healthcare Meningitis Board of Trustees Justice Abubakar Bashir Wali (rtd) absolved the trustees of any blame, saying all that they were doing was in the interest of the victims and the state in general. Justice Wali who spoke on behalf of the two boards of trustees said they would […]
But Chairman of Pfizer/Kano State Government Healthcare Meningitis Board of Trustees Justice Abubakar Bashir Wali (rtd) absolved the trustees of any blame, saying all that they were doing was in the interest of the victims and the state in general. Justice Wali who spoke on behalf of the two boards of trustees said they would not be stampeded into doing a poor assignment.
It appears Pfizer and Kano State government reasoned with claimants in this regard. They said since the trustees were appointed soon after the July 30, 2009 out-of-court settlement no tangible progress had been made. While Kano government in one hand said all payments to participants should have been concluded by December last year, Pfizer on the hand said it would not renege on the earlier agreement reached between it and Kano government and it was ready to wire funds for payment as soon as the trustees cleared any participant.
Sunday Trust learnt that the delay was as a result of insistence on DNA test to identify the genuine claimants and the formula to share the 35 million dollars meant for the 200 participants. Pfizer said genuine participants of the clinical trial could only be identified through the DNA test believed to be authentic and reliable for this purpose. It was learnt that many who did not participate in the clinical trial have turned up to claim for compensation as more than 600 persons collected Pfizer compensation claims forms produced by the trustees. And only 200 persons indeed took part in the 1996 illegal test and the genuine claimants could only be picked from the 600 people who collected the forms through the DNA Trovan test, according to findings.
The trustees were said to have picked hole in the agreement as regards sharing of the 35 million dollars meant for the 200 participants. According to the compensation formula, each of the 200 claimants will collect 175,000 dollars bringing to 35 million dollars the total amount to be deducted from the 75 million dollars the world’s largest drug maker accepted to pay for the illegal test it conducted in Kano. But the agreement now before the trustees is that any participant who lost life during the drug test will be given 175,000 dollars; a reasonable amount not up to 175,000 dollars to be determined by the two doctors on the boards will be paid to a participant who either suffered paralysis, brain-damage or any other deformity and any participant who had not suffered any deformity will be given 10,000 dollars for participation in the trial. But the trustees argued that there would be enough surplus after the compensation exercise since the 35 million dollars earmarked for this purpose were based on 175,000 dollars per participant and therefore such a clause should be amended.
Chairman of Trovan Victims Forum (TVF) Alhaji Mustapha Garba Maisikeli told a press conference in Kano last week that the 200 participants in the TVF’s register were not happy with the pace at which the trustees conduct the ad-hoc work despite all the incentives for them. He accused the trustees of “unnecessary delay”, saying if care was not taken the payment process would drag even beyond the tenure of the present administration. He said the trustees were given all they needed to do the job comfortably. The trustees, according to him, have fat sitting allowances besides the posh vehicles provided for their movements within Kano and beyond.
Out of the 10 million dollars first released by Pfizer from the 30 million dollars earmarked for the healthcare projects, according to him, 4.5 million dollars were set aside for trustees’ operations. He said from the 4.5 million dollars a befitting secretariat, operational vehicles and other essential working equipment were secured for the trustees. Maisikeli said the whole process was politicised. He also alleged that the trustees were still collecting claims forms even after the January 15 cut-off date. “Our fear is that the people may bring in their own relations to claim what is not theirs,” he said. Maisikeli said TVF was not afraid of the DNA test as their records were intact and they were now waiting for the pre-DNA test by the panel of doctors constituted by the trustees.
Contacted in relation to the series of allegations leveled against the trustees by TVF, Chairman of Pfizer/Kano State Government Healthcare Meningitis Board of Trustees Justice Abubakar Bashir Wali said there had been criteria as to the verification of claimants to the Pfizer compensation, among them DNA test. He said the two boards of trustees were not in haste as they were set to do a thorough job in the interest of the participants and Kano people. He said the insistence on DNA was simply to avoid fraud as several people had turned up for compensation.
He announced the preparedness of the trustees to start screening of all claimants this week after which the all samples would be taken to the US for the DNA test. According to him, all expenses for DNA test would be settled from the 4.5 million dollars set aside for the trustees’ operations. He said the test had to be carried out in the US because the right equipment could not be found anywhere in Nigeria. The result of the DNA test, according to him, would be ready in six weeks time. “We still have a long way to go. The DNA experts of BODE Technologies based in the US would have to come to Nigeria first. The secretariat has to provide accommodation for them, provide transportation for their movements and other logistics,” he said.
Justice Wali also debunked insinuations that money was transmitted to the meningitis board of trustees. He said Pfizer was only handling the money. He also spoke on the site for the construction of the healthcare projects, saying recently they found some individuals putting structures on the land allocated for the projects. He however said they complained to the state commissioner for lands who later stopped the people from putting the illegal structures on it.
The trustees, he said, would only deal with victims directly and not through an association. He expressed the hope that by May results of the DNA test would start coming and once the results come the victims would get paid. He also assured that all claimants would be paid within the lifespan of the present administration in the state. Wali also said the trustees were not interested in controlling the money, saying the money was under the control of Pfizer because they thought “everybody in Nigeria is a thief.” He also dispelled rumours that the trustees bought for themselves a brand new Honda jeep each.
Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for Kano State Barrister Aliyu Umar said compensation payment and construction of the health projects were solely the responsibility of the trustees since the two boards of trustees were independent of both Pfizer and Kano government. He said Kano government did its own part of the struggle and it was now the responsibility of the trustees to conclude the job. The victims, according to the commissioner, should have been paid by now since everything had been provided for the trustees as incentives to do the job. The attorney general also said the trustees had absolute power to identify the claimants and neither Pfizer nor Kano government would interfere with their assignments.
He said a joint meeting was held on January 19 in Abuja at which documents of the 200 claimants with their names and photographs were shown to the trustees by Pfizer. The DNA test, according to him, was part of the indices of identifying the real participants of the illegal test because Pfizer had all the DNA samples of all the claimants.
The attorney general said Kano government did a lot to get Pfizer to pay the 75 million dollar settlement l for all the victims and people of the state. He said Pfizer according to the agreement would wire funds for payment of any participant within 24 hours upon receipt of notification from the trustees. “But up till now that has not been done. The personalities of the trustees are such that they could do a thorough job. Personally speaking, I want the trustees to be faster in their assignment. Up till now there is still a pending case against Pfizer in the US and so the early the assignment is carried out the better for the victims, government, Pfizer and the trustees themselves. Nothing will be added to the 4.5 million dollars earmarked for the running of the trustees’ secretariat,” he said.
A credible source close to Pfizer said with the slow pace of work by the trustees it was the victims who would continue to suffer not Kano government or Pfizer either, saying the earlier the job was handled with the seriousness it deserves the better. He said the seeming misunderstanding between the executive secretary of the two boards of trustees and some of the trustees over some operation of the secretariat might affect the smooth conduct of the whole assignment. The source also said the trustees should not wait until all the claimants were cleared before they could notify Pfizer for payment. Instead, he said, name of any claimant cleared by the trustees should be forwarded to the Pfizerr for immediate payment. “I believe that will restore confidence of participants in the payment process and reduce the mounting tension over the matter,” he said.
Pfizer agreed to pay 75 million dollars for the 1996 illegal drug test in Kano. Of the amount, 35 million dollars will go to the claimants, 30 million dollars for the healthcare projects and 10 million dollars for government lawyers who handled the case. And since the release of 10 million dollars last year out of the 30 million dollars earmarked for the healthcare projects nothing has been paid again by Pfizer. The 4.5 million dollars set aside for the operations of the trustees were removed from the 10 million dollars earlier released by Pfizer.