Trovan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trovan - Essay Example Trovan of Pfizer, an unapproved drug, was administered in children at the hospital of Kano in 1996, which came to the public attention only in December 2000. Pfizer picked approximately 200 children for their clinical trial, of which 100 children were administered with Trovan whereas the other half was treated with the standard anti-meningitis drug Ceftriaxone that also acted as the control group. The children who were treated with Ceftriaxone, a cephalosporin antibiotic, were given an initial dosage level of 100 mg/kg dose which was subsequently reduced to 33 mg/kg to reduce the pain caused by intramuscular injection. These children, who had reached the hospital for their treatment of meningitis, were hand-picked randomly by the doctors of Pfizer. These children were also given tags to identify the drug they received. These two batches of children continued their treatment with Trovan and Ceftriaxone for five consecutive days and were monitored either in the hospital or out-patient clinics, depending on their health. Those children who required additional care were transferred to another hospital at the expense of Pfizer. The study was concluded after four weeks and a follow-up exam was conducted by Pfizer. The results at the end of the trial conducted at Kano IDH recorded a survival rate of 94.4% at Kanos IDH against the overall survival rate in Nigeria of 90%. However, this anti-meningitis trial treatment was not devoid of mortality issues. Five children out of 100 children treated with Trovan and six out of 100 children treated with the standard drug Ceftriaxone died after the treatment. Though the follow-up conducted by the Pfizer team reported that there were no unusual side-effects, unrelated to meningitis, the children treated with Trovan did develop symptoms of arthritis, though no evidence relating the drug to this development is available. Trovan was being developed for its