(AFP) – Apr 28, 2008

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer Inc. and the Nigerian state of Kano resumed talks aimed at reaching an out-of-court settlement over an alleged illegal drugs trial, an official said Monday.

The alleged illegal clinical trial was carried out in 1996 and left 11 children dead and some 180 others with a deformity or handicap.

Kano state justice commissioner Aliyu Umar said state government officials met Pfizer representatives last month in the federal capital Abuja, where the drug company made a financial offer which Kano rejected as inadequate.

"Pfizer... made us a ridiculous offer which we rejected," Umar said. "We have made a counter offer and we are awaiting their response," he said, declining to give details of the offers.

A source close to the talks who asked not to be named told AFP that Pfizer offered to pay 10 million dollars (6.4 million euros) to the alleged victims of the drug test while Kano insisted on 1.75 billion dollars compensation.

"Pfizer offered to give 10 million dollars to the families of the victims, upgrade the Infectious Diseases Hospital where the drug trial took place, build a paediatric ward in any one public hospital and resuscitate Kano's ailing drug manufacturing company," the source said.

"For its part, Kano is insisting on one billion dollars as compensation to the victims and another 750 million dollars in damages for itself," the source added.

Kano had initially demanded 2.75 billion dollars compensation but had never disclosed how much of that sum it intended the families to receive and how much it would keep for itself.

The government of the northern state justifies claiming compensation on the grounds that the drug trial, which Pfizer says had the approval of the state government, led to the breakdown of all state health initiatives.

It also claims it needs to be compensated for assistance given to the families of the alleged victims.

The families say no such assistance has been given.

Kano made its 2.75 billion dollar claim in a civil suit it filed before a state high court in May 2007.

The suit only became headline news after the Nigerian federal government filed a similar suit the following month seeking an even larger sum in compensation.

A hearing in a parallel criminal suit filed by Kano against Pfizer staff involved in the trial, fixed for Monday, has been adjourned by one day because the presiding judge was away, a court official said Monday.

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