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In 1996, a pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, administered a drug known as Trovan to children in Kano State, leading to deaths and permanent disability. Twenty-eight years after the incident, survivors lament how their lives have been negatively altered, writes VICTOR AYENI
In 1996, Nigeria experienced the worst outbreak of meningitis which swept through the northern part of the country.
An estimate given by the World Health Organisation in March 1996 revealed that there were 8,423 cases with 1,181 deaths.
The cases were reported in Adamawa, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto and Taraba states. Kano was the worst hit by the epidemic.
Meningitis, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is an inflammation (swelling) of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.
Many different things can cause meningitis. It could be caused by bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. Other causes include certain injuries and drugs.
Most cases of bacterial meningitis are regarded as a medical emergency and sufferers are often advised to be treated as soon as possible.
This made the Federal Government at the time, to approve the application of the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, which sought to enter the country and treat meningitis patients and provide preventive medication.
Unbeknownst to the recipients, the patients were part of a trial for Pfizer’s experimental antibiotic, trovafloxacin (Trovan), a drug that had not yet received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Tragically, the consequences were devastating. The experimental drug led to the death of 11 children and left many others with lasting deformities.
What many parents had hoped would cure a deadly disease instead unleashed a wave of death, disability, and emotional anguish.
The aftermath of this tragedy sparked a prolonged legal battle involving the affected families, the Kano State Government, and Pfizer, a dispute that stretched over many years.
Now, 28 years after Trovan was administered to children in Kano, and despite numerous court proceedings, the victims continue to grapple with the lasting impacts of this ill-fated medical experiment.
Stunted dreams, dashed hopes
One of the children on whom Trovan was administered, Rukaya Salisu, fought back tears as she narrated how her life has been negatively altered beyond what anyone could imagine since she was given the experimental drug.
Salisu suffers from a rare case of osteoporosis, malocclusion, and other physical deformities which are associated with stunted growth and abnormal formation of her upper and lower limbs.
When she was 15, she asked her mother what happened to her, after she observed that all her siblings looked normal but she didn’t.
“It was then she told me that the government announced on the radio that all children that were nine months should be taken to the hospital for vaccination and I was given the Pfizer drug.
“After the vaccination, I began to have fever and she gave me paracetamol. When I was taken to the hospital, I was told that the vaccine damaged my hormones that should help my body and teeth to be strong. I was normal before the vaccination.
“Every day, my leg would break and I couldn’t walk again. My bone was no longer strong like those of normal people. That is why I’m not growing and even my teeth is not strong. My parents could not put me in school because if I’m playing with my mates, any small mistake and I fall down, I would sustain injuries,” she told News Central TV.
Today, Salisu’s parents, who once supported her education, are no longer alive. Her siblings have stepped in to shoulder the burden of her school fees, feeding, clothing, and transportation. However, the emotional toll of being heavily dependent on others weighs deeply on her.
“I wish I could work and make money, but I can’t because I’m not strong. I can’t even walk far and even when I want to bathe, I can’t carry the bucket by myself; I can’t do it.
“My sisters and neighbours have been the ones helping me. In school, my roommates are the ones who hold my hands so I can walk to the lecture room,” she added, wiping away her tears.
Salisu is just one of many who endured the devastating effects of Pfizer’s experimental drug.
Another victim, Bilkisu Abbas, was told by her parents that the Pfizer drug was given to her when she was about three years old. Afterwards, she could not move her leg.
“It started by shrinking one of my legs and completely drying it up. Then two days after being taken to the hospital, the other leg also shrunk and dried up. There is a muscle around my knee that cannot straighten because it’s permanently bent.
“Sometimes, I would want to put on certain clothes, for instance, if I see fellow ladies wearing certain clothes that I love; I can’t wear those dresses. I end up getting embarrassed because the clothes would fall off my body. I have totally been deprived of my life,” Abbas said amid tears.
Opening the lid on how her condition affected her marital life, Abbas revealed that her marriage lasted for a few months because her former husband left, stating that he could not cope with a deformed wife.
“What hurts me the most is when prospective male suitors come around me. They will end up leaving, saying they can’t marry a cripple or disabled person. My husband left me because his family said I was too much of a burden on him, so he left me,” she said.
Another victim, Hafsat Musa, recounted that she and her late brother, Abdullahi Musa, were hospitalised and treated with Pfizer’s experimental drug while battling meningitis.
Abdullahi was discharged and allowed to go home, but unfortunately, he did not survive as he died the next day.
“I also took the medication and then it affected me in my legs. From then, I couldn’t use my legs again,” Hafsat said.
‘Our condition robbed us of education’
Also suffering a similar fate, 29-year-old Sa’adatu Tijani, said before she was given the drug at the hospital when she had meningitis, she walked around without any problem.
But after the Pfizer medication, she described how her legs began to get bad to the point that she could no longer hold on to things firmly or do things that required energy.
“It was as if my legs were cut off,” she told News Central TV. “After I was discharged from the hospital that was trying to treat me afterwards to no avail, I started learning how to move, stand, sit, and do other things that require the use of my limbs again.
“My aunt carried me on her back and took me back to the hospital gate and told them how my condition has been worsened, but they refused to let us in saying it is not their business. Each time I remember it, my heart breaks.”
The 29-year-old lamented that her condition forced her to quit going to school and also prevented her from getting married.
“Anyone who has interest in marrying me or comes close, finds out that I’m disabled and then they will change their minds,” Tijani added.
Also speaking in the documentary, Tijani’s father, Mr Mukhtar Danjuma, said his encounter with Pfizer had been a nightmare following the permanent disability to his daughter.
“It’s been more than 22 or 25 years. Since then, we haven’t got any solution. We had to bring her back home to start treating her with Hausa alternative medicine when the orthodox medicine didn’t seem to be working.”
Sharing a similarly grim reality, another victim, Mamman Abdullahi, revealed, “Unlike my siblings, I couldn’t attend school or hold a job. I’ve also become permanently dependent on medication. Every day, I visit the orthopedic hospital for my treatment.”
A fraction of compensation
Many parents endured the heartbreak of losing their children. Among them is Ismaila Danbuzu, whose daughter, Hadija Ishmael, passed away in 1996 after being administered Trovan in Kano.
Although Pfizer had argued that the meningitis, and not its antibiotic, had led to the death of 11 children and harm to dozens of others, in 2009, it reached a tentative out-of-court settlement with the Kano State Government worth $75m.
It was also reported that in 2011 Pfizer compensated each of the victims and the families affected with $175,000.
Danbuzu said he only received $7,000 (an equivalent of N2.4m) instead of the $175,000 promised.
“We need help. We need all the support to collect the remaining balance,” he said.
“I was paid N2m and a few fractions not up to N40,000. They even called all the victims including myself in and they conducted a DNA test on us,” Tijani disclosed.
“They said they would pay us $10,000, but they paid us only $7,000,” Asabe Bala, the mother of a victim alleged.
A social justice advocate, Linus Usman, said Pfizer should have reached out to the victims during the compensation one after the other through their relatives, the hospital and the government.
“It was gathered that some were not even aware of any compensation at any time,” Usman added.
Former AGF speaks
Commenting on how the Federal Government sought to get justice for the victims, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), explained that the issue started before his appointment in 2007.
He noted that his predecessor was quite aware of the matter which happened in Kano, and that the state government had sought the support of the Federal Government to bring the directors of Pfizer and other officials who were directly involved to stand trial in Kano State.
Aondoakaa said, “The president directed the request to my office and we gave them the support they needed. The Kano State government engaged a very competent and accomplished lawyer, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who later became the Vice President.
“The matter was a federal offence so we requested to apprehend the officials and send them back to Nigeria for trials. We also obtained a warrant of arrest from the Federal High Court and the warrant was given to the office of the AG which I also sent to the Interpol to apprehend the officials.”
Explaining what happened to the full compensation promised by Pfizer, the former AGF further stated, “When I came as AGF, Pfizer officials came to me and the compensation they were trying to offer Kano State government was N100,000 per person. They based it on the fact that if a Nigerian policeman died while on duty, his compensation is N100,000.
“That made me a little pissed off. I told the officials that the children that died, some of them could have been the president of Nigeria, some could have been the richest man in Africa or the world or they could have been Secretary-General of the UN. So, cutting the lives of children short with an unauthorised medical trial cannot be compared to the Nigerian Police Force.
“They said they would build a children hospital but I told them to go build a children hospital in Kano and whatever was paid was also paid to the Kano State Government.”
When News Central asked the state Commissioner for Information, Baba Dantiye, if he had information on what was paid to Kano State, he replied, “I don’t know if Kano State was given money in cash, but I knew that a hospital was built of about millions of dollars, I can’t remember the figure.”
The state Director of Public Health, Imam Wada, described the incident as the “most unfortunate phase in the history of Kano, Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Health which we don’t want to be repeated ever.”
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