Trovafloxacin

Trovafloxacin (sold as Trovan® by fluoroquinolones.

Controversy

In 1996, during a meningitis epidemic in Kano, Nigeria, the then-untested drug was administered to approximately 100 infected children. A panel of medical experts later implicated clinical trial without authorization from the Nigerian government or consent from the children's parents.^[1] The case came to light in December 2000 as the result of an investigation by The Washington Post, and sparked significant public outcry. The Nigerian federal government has subsequently sued the drug giant for $8.5bn and Pfizer will face criminal and civil charges brought by the state and federal governments of Nigeria.

When it went on the market in 1998 Trovan became one of Pfizer's top-selling drugs. When first-quarter earnings were announced in April of that year, the company's earnings had increased by 15% over the previous year, with analysts attributing much of that increase to the sales of the "new antibiotic" Trovan.^[2] Pfizer had spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing Trovan. In the first year it brought over US$160 million and investors expected it to eventually bring in US$1 billion per year.^[3]

In June 1999 the U.S. series of unsuccessful lawsuits in the United States.

References