By Ngozi Edozien
Leadership (Abuja)
OPINION
31 October 2007
Unfortunately, the numerous errors contained in your newspaper's report of 24
October, 2007 entitled Pfizer's Cold Blooded Logic make it necessary to set the
record straight.
First, the results of the 1996 clinical trial in Kano during the most serious cerebral spinal meningitis epidemic ever recorded in Nigeria plainly proved that Trovan helped save lives.
Second, it is important to note that 99 children were treated with Trovaflosacin not 200 as you reported erroneously in your article.
Third. the clinical investigation did not turn tragic. Instead it demonstrably saved more lives than any other treatment available in Kano at the time. The average mortality rate of those receiving treatment in Kano's hospital using other drugs was slightly more than one patient in every 10. Whereas, with Trovan, the mortality rate was around half that rate; of 99 patients who took Trovan, only five died from the meningitis they had contracted.
Moreover, your anger at the tragedy of the meningitis epidemic that claimed 12, 000 or so young lives in the Kano region is misplaced. It was not any of the treatments that killed people in 1996; it was the disease. Left untreated the disease claims somewhere between 30 to 40 per cent of its victims.
Based on existing treatments, the intervention of science and professional care can reduce the mortality rate to around 10 per cent of those who contract meningitis. To date, no treatment has been developed that can save all who fall victim of this deadly disease. Yet, that objective of obtaining the highest possible survival rate in such epidemics is what Pfizer is in business to discover. and why it conducted a clinical trial in Kano in 1996 in the first place.
You seem to have misunderstood what Pfizer is all about. The purpose of Pfizer, the focus of its business, is to develop safe medicines to prevent and treat the world's most serious diseases; making them available to the people who need them most. It is the pursuit of science that has enabled Pfizer over the last 150 years to make the world a healthier place for people to fulfill their potential.
Our clinical investigation in Kano in 1996 was in the best tradition of Pfizer pursuing its purpose as a company. Meningitis is clearly a disease that limits people's potential to live full lives. Even today, in Kano, there can be no doubt that the stamp of meningitis still haunts it. Thousands of young people are maimed by varying degrees of hearing loss, mental retardation, paralysis, seizures and other debilitating symptoms associated with surviving this disease. In addition, the mourning of 12,000 lost young lives obviously still weighs heavily on their parents, relatives, friends and communities.
That said, Pfizer objects to the false accusations made by a columnist in LEADERSHIP speaking to those audiences. Others may also object to your columnist's strong remarks.
Moreover, nothing could be further from the truth than your columnist's accusation that Pfizer sees developing nations as inferior and therefore, undeserving of respect and fundamental rights. Pfizer is a global company whose medicines are available worldwide to treat diseases that generally have no geographic boundaries and do not distinguish between rich and poor. Pfizer has been in Nigeria for 50 years. In that time, Pfizer has formed alliances with stakeholders of all sorts to improve people's ability to live healthy lives by preventing premature deaths, easing pain and arresting illnesses.
In Nigeria, Pfizer continues to partner with others to educate the public on the risks and prevention of heart disease, breast cancer and other ailments. The company also works with the government to ensure that Nigeria is constantly improving its regulatory framework governing access to drugs, their pricing and ethical use. In the process, Pfizer has risked its reputation, shareholders' capital and won many allies among its many stakeholders.
In other words, Pfizer takes and always has taken Nigeria seriously as a respected long-term business partner.
Pfizer has always accepted that the suffering of the people of Kano was real. The devastation caused by meningitis in 1996 is still doing harm to the people of the region today. But by breaking the bonds of trust between companies that exist to bring life saving drugs to market and those who require them to combat disease and fulfill their potential, the columnist in LEADERSHIP commits his own errors. That's why we were obliged to respond.
Ngozi Edozien is the Managing Director of Pfizer Specialties Nigeria
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