Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc — Companies

Why it is on record

Successor to Pfizer Products Plc, the Nigerian subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. (1957). Following the controversy over the 1996 Pfizer Trovan trial in Kano, Pfizer divested its Nigerian operating subsidiary in 1997; the indigenised company adopted the name Neimeth (Nigerian-German Chemicals → Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals) in 1997.

Record held

Direct corporate successor to Pfizer's Nigerian operating subsidiary; involved by association in the most-litigated pharmaceutical controversy in Nigerian history (Pfizer Trovan trial, Kano, 1996).

Founders

Pfizer Inc. (1957 as Pfizer Products West Africa); indigenised management buy-out led by Bartholomew Nnaji and partners, 1997.

Headquarters

Plot 5, Block A, Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.

Lineage / corporate history

Pfizer Products West Africa Ltd (1957) → Pfizer Products Plc (1972 listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange) → Pfizer divests operating subsidiary 1997 → renamed Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc; Pfizer retains licensing relationship for certain products into the early 2000s.

Current leadership

Chairman: Prof Bartholomew Nnaji (former Minister of Power). Managing Director: Matthew Azoji.

Key dates

1957Pfizer Products West Africa incorporated in Lagos.
1972Listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as Pfizer Products Plc.
1996Pfizer Trovan meningitis trial conducted at Kano Infectious Diseases Hospital during the epidemic — subject of decades of subsequent litigation in Nigeria and the United States (Abdullahi v. Pfizer, 2nd Cir 2009).
1997Pfizer divests operating subsidiary; renamed Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc.
2009Pfizer settles the Kano cases for $75m with the Kano State Government.

Deep dive

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc is the institutional successor of Pfizer Products Plc Nigeria. Pfizer indigenised its Nigerian subsidiary in 1997 and renamed it Neimeth (Nigerian-German Chemicals, an earlier predecessor brand). The 1996 Kano Trovan meningitis-trial controversy — in which Pfizer-administered investigational antibiotic Trovan was tested on children at the Kano Infectious Diseases Hospital during the meningitis outbreak, leading to deaths and injuries and a multi-year international litigation — is recorded under the Pfizer-Trovan settlement, ultimately resolved with the Kano State government in 2009 for $75m.

Controversies & accountability

· The 1996 Pfizer Trovan trial in Kano — conducted by Pfizer on 200 children during the meningitis epidemic — remains the most litigated pharmaceutical episode in Nigerian history. The 2006 Federal Government investigation panel (Abdulsalam Nasidi) found the trial had been conducted without informed consent and in breach of Nigerian and international research ethics. The Federal and Kano State Governments separately sued Pfizer; Pfizer settled the Kano case in 2009 for $75m and the Federal case in 2011.