April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. and Nigeria agreed to settle court cases related to a 1996 drug trial, Aliyu Umar, attorney general of Nigeria’s Kano state, said in an interview today.

“On the major issues we’ve agreed,” said Umar by phone from Kano, where one of the court cases came up for hearing today. “What we did was to report to the court what we’ve agreed upon.”

Final terms offered by Nigeria to end civil and criminal charges against the world’s biggest drugmaker for what it claims was the illegal testing of a meningitis drug were accepted by Pfizer in a letter yesterday, Umar said. He declined to specify the amount Pfizer agreed to pay, citing confidentiality obligations.

Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder didn’t immediately respond to a message on his mobile phone seeking comment. Pfizer wanted in place “procedures to prevent any misappropriation of funds” and agreement on specific health initiatives to be addressed with the money, Loder said in a statement yesterday.

Nigeria’s federal government sued Pfizer for $7 billion in damages in 2007. Criminal charges have also been brought against Pfizer officials accused of using an untested meningitis drug, known as Trovan, in a trial involving 200 children during an epidemic. The company is also facing a separate civil suit brought by the Kano state government, which is seeking $2.75 billion in damages.

Pfizer denies any wrongdoing and insists that the drug saved many lives. The company says it secured the consent of the government and the families involved before administering the drug.

Prosecutors allege 11 children died and scores were permanently disabled as a result of using the drug. Charges have been laid against eight Nigerian and expatriate employees of Pfizer believed to have been involved in the experiment.

With an agreement reached between Pfizer and Nigeria, the next step is to set up a meeting “and put a benchmark of how those agreements will be implemented,” Umar said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dulue Mbachu in Lagos at dmbachu@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 3, 2009 10:36 EDT