Lawyers: Pfizer settling Nigerian lawsuit

KANO, Nigeria, April 3 (UPI) -- Lawyers for Pfizer say the U.S. pharmaceutical company is ready to settle a lawsuit filed by residents of Nigeria's Kano State.

The drug company has denied plaintiffs' claims that it was responsible for the deaths of 11 children, along with 181 injuries, in the Nigerian state during a 1996 antibiotic testing, the BBC said Friday.

The families behind the lawsuit allege Pfizer tested its Trovan antibiotic on nearly 200 children in Kano State without parental permission.

Pfizer said it had parental permission and governmental approval for the testing, saying the ensuing deaths and injuries were the result of a meningitis epidemic.

Details regarding the settlement have yet to be disclosed, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

"They promised not to disclose the amounts involved until they sit down and negotiate how to implement the agreement," attorney Aliyu Umar told the BBC.

"This is all what remains to do so that the victims will get some compensation," Umar said. He said a portion of the settlement funds would go to a hospital in Kuna State.