News: Africa
» 2009
January 25, 2010
Pfizer Compensates Trovan Victims With N26 Million Each
Pfizer has agreed to pay N26 million to each family of the victims of its Trovan vaccine trials in Kano in 2006, provided there is proof of death or permanent incapacitation. About 200 people took part in the trials which resulted in the death of some patients and the permanent incapacitation of others. The Meningitis Trust Fund (MTF), a body set up to pay the compensation on behalf of Pfizer, said it has received over 600 applications from those who claimed they participated in the tests and want to be compensated.
Read article at allafrica.com
January 5, 2010
Zambians fume over failed AIDS trial
A Zambian traditional leader has fumed over reports that a number of his female subjects who underwent a microbicide gel clinical trials have contracted HIV, the virus that cause AIDS. Close to a quarter of volunteers that took part in a microbicide gel clinical trials in Southern Zambia contracted HIV, 12 months after the commencement of the trial. Zambian authorities have remained mute over the development while officials from the Microbicide Development Programme in Zambia and United Kingdom have pains to explain what went wrong during the clinical trials. Chief Mwanachingwala who presides over the affected site in Mazabuka of southern Zambia has expressed regret at the leaked results of the trials. The traditional leader has claimed that the Microbicide Development Programme enrolled illiterate and uneducated women who did not understand the nature of the clinical trials and its consequences.
Read article at africanews.com