Crisis Management: a Report on Pfizer and the Trovan Crisis

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Crisis Management: a Report on Pfizer and the Trovan Crisis

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We decided to study the Trovan crisis that affected Pfizer as we found it particularly interesting. If one delves into the circumstances which contributed to provoke the Trovan crisis, it is indeed an intriguing story. We also thought that it would be quite enriching to analyze how a pharmaceutical company which is supposed to act and be responsible for the improvement of human life, can handle this type of crisis and account for ethically reprehensible practices as well as be accountable for the loss of human lives. Such a crisis may be categorized as a transgression. Pfizer's executives were well aware of what they were realizing. They also knew about the risks involved. Yet, they decided to carry on with the operations. What was the company's reaction to the crisis? Further, was the company successful in regaining the world's trust? These are the main questions we will be answering after having analyzed the origin and the consequences of the crisis. We will also take into consideration the reactions of the different stakeholders. The roots of the Trovan scandal that hit Pfizer and finds its roots back into 1996. This was the time when the pharmaceutical company decided to carry out a test on Nigerian kids using its new medicine called Trovan. This venture wasn't approved nor authorized by the health authorities and the government body in the US. Further, the concept of using human beings as mere guinea pigs was even more an astonishing fact. Suddenly, a terrible meningitis epidemic attacked a small city in Nigeria and that city was Kano. Kano was a poor city and it had encountered a number of deaths as a result of this epidemic especially among children. Pfizer did not seem to waste any time and therefore took advantage of this grief stricken city to prove its analysis.

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A crisis resulting from rushed decisions but which took time to expand
1. A crisis triggered immediately
2. But which took time to amplify
3. A crisis which had severe consequences at various levels
Various actors, multiple stakes
1. The victims and their families
2. The Nigerian government
3. The health authorities in the US and across the world
4. The media and the public opinion
How did Pfizer deal with the Trovan scandal?
1. Initial reaction after the consequences of the Trovan tests
2. Back to the US: denial of Trovan by FDA
3. Acceptance of the drug: from success to deaths
4. Resurgence of the Nigerian scandal
5. Massive attacks and unsuccessful lawsuits
6. Pfizer's strategy: silence, elusion and out-of-court agreement
Lessons drawn from the crisis and changes implemented
1. More social responsibility in the Third World Countries
2. Clinical trials improvements
3. A better communication
4. All means are good to maximize profits

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[...] Back to the US: denial of Trovan by FDA After that, Pfizer went on with its procedure to get the FDA approval for the commercialization of the drug in the USA, as if nothing had happened in Nigeria. Nevertheless, the FDA found out that Pfizer had not conducted properly the follow-up examinations and deny Pfizer's claim of Trovan for children. Acceptance of the drug: from success to deaths In the beginning of 1998, Pfizer finally got the approval of the FDA and started to commercialize Trovan for adults. Quickly it became a huge success: during the first year, Trovan sales reached over $ 160 million and boosted Pfizer's global revenues. [...]

[...] A better communication Although in the pharmaceutical industry communication is not always easy, Pfizer understood with this scandal that if it had a clear and better communication earlier, media would not have gone so crazy about the case and the company would have been able to maintain its image. Therefore, Pfizer adopted a strategy of strong and open communication. Pfizer teams made more often press statements explaining to the media and to the public where they were in their research, where they would conduct them, what they would bring to the patients and so on. [...]

[...] However, they failed to obtain a satisfactory result, since Pfizer was never condemned, be it in the US or in Nigeria, where a lawsuit started in 2007 but was quickly adjourned. Nevertheless, such a long judicial battle awoke the media's interest and helped to spread the story of the Trovan experiment. This judicial war came to an end this year, when both parties concluded a financial agreement (Pfizer will pay $35 million to the families). The judicial war between Pfizer and the victims' families The Nigerian government The Nigerian government also played an important role in the crisis. [...]

[...] The external factors which led to the triggering event In Kano, the company scientists settled in a camp and separated the 200 sick children, whom they were going to test the Trojan medicine, in to two groups. In the first group, the kids were given Trovan, and in the other group, they were treated with a medicine against meningitis, but with only half the proportion which is actually needed. Such a maneuver was obviously designed to emphasize Trovan's superiority. The problem is that 11 kids died after receiving Trovan and many others became deaf, mute, blind and suffered from even worse symptoms. [...]

[...] Crisis Management: A Report on Pfizer and the Trovan Crisis Table of contents I. A crisis resulting from rushed decisions which took time to expand 2 A crisis triggered immediately 2 . but which took time to amplify 5 A crisis which had severe consequences at various levels 7 II. Various players, multiple stakes 8 The victims and their families 8 The Nigerian government 9 The health authorities in the US and across the world 10 The media and the public opinion 10 III. [...]

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