Pfizer Fulfils A Promise

An ultra-modern diagnostic and disease control centre, a fruit of the out-of-court settlement of the dispute between Pfizer and Kano State government, berths in Kano

Over the last two years now, people working around Kwanar Dawakin, a vast industrial area in Duku Local Government Area of Kano State, have observed an expansive structure emerge from a vast site formally occupied by livestock traders. The structure is the $25.5 million ultramodern Diagnostic and Disease Control Centre, DDCC, built by pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, in collaboration with the Kano State Government, as part of the settlement reached between the company and the state over the controversial 1996 Trovan drug test. The construction of the facility, which sits on 9.6 hectares, began early 2011.

The facility consists of  a diagnostic centre, a disease control centre, a public health laboratory, a microbiological reference laboratory, and housing for staff. The 100-bed centre will function primarily as a research and diagnostic facility. David Odiwo, Executive Secretary, Healthcare/Meningitis Trust Fund, HMTF, an entity established as part of the out-of-court settlement, listed the facilities of the medical centre to include ultra-low temperature cooling refrigerators, which can operate at minus 40 degrees and below; computerised documentation system, steam pressure system, close circuit television system and monitoring room, industrial ovens and food storage facilities.

Other facilities include a library, conference room, administrative units, pen for keeping guinea pigs, rabbits and other animals for tests and research, residences for medical staff as well as diesel storage facilities. The laboratories and research rooms are designed with seamless flooring for easy cleaning and disinfection. When operational, Odiwo said, the centre will be able to quarantine patients during disease outbreaks to allow medical personnel track individual strains of causative agents and determine the type of medication required.

Analysts said the centre will add a new impetus to healthcare delivery in Kano and environs by advancing medical research through using local strains to determine causative agents and proffering reliable diagnosis. It is expected to liaise with or serve as a referral for other tertiary, secondary and primary medical institutions in Kano State. The new centre is also expected to boost social and economic activities by spawning employment opportunities for medical professionals such as consultants, surgeons, immunologists and pathologists.

The Kano State government is already planning on how it will put the facility to effective use. One of the things being contemplated is the conversion of the centre to a teaching hospital for the state-owned Northwest University. Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, who recently hinted at this when he played host the president of an Egyptian university, said the government is contemplating the decision as part of efforts to make the new university a top-tier one. Odiwo said the centre is expected to be handed over to and commissioned by the Kano State Government before the end of this month. “The facility is ready and as soon as the state government is ready to receive it, the facility will be handed over to them,” he said.

Following a severe outbreak of meningitis in the state in 1996, Pfizer conducted the test of Trovan, a drug that was being developed to tackle the infection.

But the government later accused the company of illegally conducting a study that resulted in the deaths of 11 children and injury to some others. The company insisted that the trial was conducted with the full knowledge of the Federal Government and that Trovan helped save lives of many of the victims during the trial. To close the door on a long-running legal battle, Pfizer, while specifically denying any wrongdoing or liability, in 2010, agreed to a $75 million out of court settlement of legal suits related to the trial.

Out of the settlement sum, it was agreed that $30 million will invested in healthcare initiatives, the key component of which is the DDCC. Also, the state received $10 million as legal costs while $35 million was set aside as compensation to those who claimed to have been injured as a result of their participation in the study or survivors of deceased participants. It was gathered that 14 claimants, who passed the DNA test, a condition for ascertaining participation in the trial, have received compensation ranging between $87,500 and $175,000, depending on the degree of disability claimed to have been suffered. The process of ascertaining potential beneficiaries is still on.

—Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja