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Torts Keyed to Twerski
Abdullahi v. Pfizer, Inc.
Facts
Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, conducted drug trials for an experimental antibiotic called Trovan in northern Nigeria in 1996 during an outbreak of bacterial meningitis. Pfizer gave one-hundred children at the local hospital Trovan and gave another one-hundred children Ceftriaxone, the established antiobiotic to treat bacterial meningitis, at lower doses to allude to the success of Trovan. Pfizer did not receive consent from the patients or their parents to take the experimental drug, inform the patients or their parents of the experimental nature of the study, or that the effective drug to treat bacterial meningitis was being administered in the same hospital. Eleven of the children who took Trovan and the reduced doses of Ceftriaxone died and several other children were left with permanent impairments. The children and their families (plaintiffs) sued Pfizer (Defendant) under the Alien Tort Statute, claiming that Pfizer’s actions violated international law. The district court dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and the plaintiffs appealed.
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