A doctor has alleged anew that Pfizer Inc. violated medical and ethical standards, appeared to have paid off foreign officials, and oversaw acts “which may have led to criminally negligent homicide” during Pfizer’s 1996 drug trials on children with meningitis in Nigeria.
The allegations are contained in a letter (pdf) sent last week from Dr. Juan Walterspiel to U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley III in Manhattan, who is presiding over the pending suit brought by families of the children who died or suffered serious side effects from the drug trial for the antibiotic Trovan. A status hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 16.
