(Adds Pfizer reaction)

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA, July 20 (Reuters) - The Nigerian government will refile an amended suit seeking $6.5 billion in damages from U.S. drug company Pfizer Inc. <PFE.N> over tests conducted on children, lawyers said on Friday.

The case centers on 200 children who were given drugs during a meningitis outbreak in 1996, including Pfizer's antibiotic Trovan. Nigerian authorities say Pfizer deceived them about the details of the tests and caused the deaths of 11 children.

Pfizer, which has steadfastly denied the allegations, confirmed the case was withdrawn earlier on Friday. It said in a statement that it has not been served with any new lawsuit and was not aware of any new suit being filed.

On June 26, a court had rejected the government's request to amend its suit to add a clause explaining the 11-year delay in filing it. At a court hearing on Friday, government lawyers said they would refile an amended version.

"We came to discontinue the statement of claim because our amendment was refused ... We are filing a new suit, possibly by the end of the day," said lawyer Babatunde Irukera.

The government alleges Pfizer acted unethically when it tested Trovan on children in the northern state of Kano. Doctors also used another drug, ceftriaxone, during the tests.

"The plaintiff avers that on account of the defendants' fraudulent use of the unapproved drug Trovan and the deliberate and purposeful low-dosing of ceftriaxone, 11 children ... died," the government says in the amended suit, obtained by Reuters.

"Others suffered varying degrees of injuries and/or disorders including deafness, muteness, paralysis, brain damage, loss of sight, slurred speech," the suit says.

Pfizer says that it conducted the tests in the full knowledge of the government and in a responsible and ethical way consistent with its commitment to patient safety, and that the drug helped save lives.

"To our knowledge there is no additional information in the case," Pfizer said on Friday.

"Any purported new facts more than 11 years after the study was conducted are simply rehashed allegations dressed up differently, and equally without merit," the drugmaker said.

The government of Kano state is also suing Pfizer over the tests, seeking damages of $2 billion, and has also pressed criminal charges. Both the civil and the criminal cases have so far been bogged down in technicalities and have been adjourned.

The federal government lawyers had said at the June 26 hearing that they wanted to amend their suit to explain that the government had been waiting for the outcome of a U.S. court case on the same tests, which explained the 11-year delay.

A U.S. federal judge in 2005 dismissed the suit, saying the case should be heard in a Nigerian court.

The damages sought by the federal government, as listed in the amended suit, add up to 826.4 billion naira ($6.5 billion). Lawyers had previously said the government's claim amounted to $6.95 billion. It was unclear whether the amount of the claim was amended or the original figures were incorrect. ($1=127.2 naira) (Additional reporting by Ransdell Pierson in New York)

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