This is the most believable explanation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/08/30/suit-accuses-pfizer-of-rights-violations/a11b32b2-8044-4bc6-b299-df1270ecda88/
Suit Accuses Pfizer of Rights Violations
August 30, 2001
Pfizer Inc. was sued yesterday on behalf of 30 Nigerian families who contend that the world's largest drugmaker violated international law during a 1996 meningitis epidemic by experimenting on children without their knowledge or consent.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, alleges that the children were used as human guinea pigs during clinical trials of a Pfizer antibiotic known as Trovan. The families of at least six children who died during or shortly after the experiment are among those suing, according to their attorney, Elaine Kusel.
The families contend that Pfizer violated the Nuremberg Code, U.N. human rights standards and other ethical guidelines. They allege that Pfizer exposed the children to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."
The families are seeking a court order barring Pfizer from conducting illegal experiments in the future. They are asking for unspecified punitive damages and that the company be ordered to pay for the continuing medical care of the surviving children.
The experiment came to light in December, when The Washington Post published the results of an 11-month investigation. The series, "The Body Hunters," revealed that Pfizer and other large U.S. drug companies increasingly were exporting human drug tests to the developing world, where costs were lower and regulations lax. The stories documented medical research carried out in poor countries that had scant hope of benefiting from new drugs or medical breakthroughs.
The series included a lengthy examination of Pfizer's 1996 Trovan experiment, carried out on 200 children with potentially deadly meningitis, at a makeshift epidemic camp in Kano, Nigeria. Eleven children died during the test, but Pfizer said none of the deaths was related to the effects of the drug or to poor medical treatment.
The series' description of the experiment drew widespread condemnation in Nigeria, where a federal investigation is underway and a class action lawsuit is pending.
Pfizer officials did not respond immediately to a telephone message left yesterday. But in response to the Post series, Pfizer said the company had done nothing unethical.
The Trovan experiment, a company spokeswoman said at the time, "was sound from medical, scientific, regulatory and ethical standpoints." The company said the clinical trial actually improved treatment in the camp and may have saved lives.
Legislation introduced in the House as a result of the Post series would tighten regulations of American medical trials carried out in the developing world.
Staff writers Mary Pat Flaherty and Joby Warrick contributed to this report.
Who's this ding dong?