An appeals court ruled on Friday that Nigerian families can now sue Pfizer in US courts, with claims that the giant drug maker violated international law by banning involuntary medical experimentation on humans when it tested an antibiotic to treat meningitis. The second US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned rulings by a lower court judge, who had tossed out the lawsuits in litigation that began in 2001.

Basically, the lawsuits claim Pfizer violated international law, federal regulations and medical ethics by rushing to test the experimental antibiotic without their consent or knowledge. The first time they were introduced, the lawsuits were dismissed because they could not be pursued under the Alien Tort Statute, an 18th century law that allows foreigners to sue in US courts over international law violations.

Back in 1996, Pfizer sent three American physicians to work with four Nigerian doctors in order to experiment with an oral antibiotic, Trovan, on children who were hospital patients in Kano, Nigeria. The lawsuits say the two-week experiment on 200 sick children led to 11 deaths and left many others blind, paralyzed or brain-damaged.

Pfizer, along with the Nigerian government, failed to secure the informed consent of either the children or their guardians and failed to disclose or explain the experimental nature of the study or the serious risks involved. Pfizer said Trovan helped save lives with a survival rate of 94.4 percent, compared to a survival rate of slightly less than 90 percent for those who did not participate in the study.

Pharmaceutical companies have greatly increased the number of drug trials in poor countries in the last two decades, allowing life saving drugs to be developed faster and at less cost, while providing developing countries with cutting edge medicines and treatments. However, it looks like Pfizer did wrong in its case.