Pfizer Settles Constant Gardener Case

Remember The Constant Gardener? The Independent reports that Pfizer will pay $74.6 million to Nigerian families to settle a lawsuit that inspired the John Le Carré novel and the film. Allegedly, Pfizer ran drug trials of a broad spectrum antibiotic in the Nigerian slum city of Kano in the middle of a meningitis epidemic without notifying the families of the 200 sick children who participated. Side effects allegedly included organ failure, brain damage, and death. This out-of-court settlement won't close the case however, as the lawsuit has spawned a web of litigation in Connecticut and New York, and elsewhere in Nigeria.