High crimes and misdemeanors
It’s quite brilliant if you think about it.
Obviously you could never get away with testing dangerous drugs on children in the U.S. or Europe. But really…would anybody even notice–or care–if you used the children of Nigeria as guinea pigs for experimental drugs?
Nah…
Or at least that’s what the evil geniuses at Pfizer might’ve been thinking.
Timeline of disgrace
When the recent Wikileaks scandal broke, U.S. officials weren’t the only ones with egg on their faces. Executives for U.S. drug giant Pfizer were also embarrassed by a diplomatic cable.
Hmmm. Embarrassed? No, that’s not the right word. Given Pfizer’s ethical track record, we can assume that nothing embarrasses these dirtbags.
As you’ll see in a moment, the diplomatic cable exposed some dirty dealing that would make you or me (or any human) feel deeply ashamed and disgusted with ourselves. So how did Pfizer executives respond? They sent out a spokesperson who basically said, “Blah, blah, blah. Deny, deny, deny.” And that was that. “Crisis” averted!
But I’m not letting them off so easy.
Here’s a quick Timeline of Pfizer’s Nigerian Drug Trial Disgrace…
1996: Eleven children died and many were disabled when Pfizer researchers tested a new antibiotic called Trovan on kids with meningitis. Nigerian authorities said they never approved the trial and parents were not informed that their children would receive a drug on an experimental basis.
1998: The FDA approved Trovan for use in adults only. But after reports of liver failure, Trovan use was restricted to adult emergency care.
1999: The European Union banned Trovan.
2000: The Washington Post reported that Pfizer produced a letter from a Nigerian ethics committee that approved the research before the 1996 trial. But the letter turned out to be fabricated by a Pfizer researcher who falsely backdated the letter.
2006: A Nigerian panel concluded that the Pfizer trial was an “illegal” test of an “unregistered drug.” The panel called the trial a “clear case of exploitation of the ignorant.”
2007: Nigeria filed lawsuits against Pfizer that included homicide and other criminal counts. The legal action sought about $9 billion in restitution and damages.
2010: Pfizer finally settled the suits for about $75 million. All criminal charges were dropped.
So what happened between 2007 and 2010? We can assume that Pfizer lawyers are expert negotiators. But going from $9 billion to $75 million and dropping severe criminal charges? That’s insanely successful negotiating!
Maybe a clue to their success can be found in a missing piece of the Timeline that came to light in that diplomatic cable revealed by Wikileaks.
In the 2009 cable, a U.S. official revealed that a Pfizer executive in Nigeria told him that the drug company had hired special investigators. Their mission: Search for evidence of corrupt practices by Nigeria’s Attorney General to persuade him to drop the suits.
In early 2010, the Nigerian AG was removed from his post just as alleged corruption ties were being reported by the Nigerian media. Five months later, Pfizer agreed to the $75 million payout.
See, if you’re a Pfizer official and you are accused of illegally testing a drug on children, you don’t ask yourself, “What’s the right thing to do here?” You ask yourself, “Who can we crush to get ourselves out of this?”
Utterly despicable!
If we’ve learned anything, it’s that the only place drug companies and their execs feel anything is in their wallets. So that’s where I’m aiming.
I know most of you don’t take pharmaceuticals when you can avoid them, but if you do, talk to your doctor about switching to a non-Pfizer drug.
If you would rather your money go to actual R&D rather than Pfizer’s special brand of R&D for public officials (Research and Destroy), ask your doctor for another option.
Here’s a list of some of the most common Pfizer drugs:
Lipitor
Viagra
Celebrex
Xanax
Zoloft
Chantix
Enbrel
In each of those cases you can choose competitors’ products (or, better yet, find non-drug solutions).
Pfizer also makes quite a few over-the-counter products that people use everyday. But we don’t HAVE to use them everyday.
For instance: ChapStick. ChapStick could disappear tomorrow and I’d never miss it. Burt’s Bees makes a terrific lip balm. Carmex does too.
Same with Pfizer’s Advil. I rarely take ibuprofen, but when I do, I’ve got lots of different brands to choose from. I can go without the Advil, no problem.
Other Pfizer products include ThermaCare heat wraps, Anbesol oral pain reliever, Dristan, Robitussin, Preparation H, FiberCon, and the Centrum line of multivitamins.
If you and I and all our friends and families boycott these products, we’re not going to bring down the world’s most successful drug company. But we’ll at least have the satisfaction of knowing our money isn’t paying the obscene bonuses of people who really should be doing hard time in a Nigerian prison.
Sources:
“WikiLeaks cables: Pfizer ‘used dirty tricks to avoid clinical trial payout'” Sarah Boseley, The Guardian, 12/9/10, guardian.co.uk
“Pfizer Reaches Settlement in Nigerian Drug-Trial Case” Joe Stephens, Washington Post, 4/4/09, washingtonpost.com
