Pharmaceutical Drug Litigation Updates

Federal judge in Alabama orders mediation for Chantix lawsuits not yet settled

Quoted from http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/03/federal_judge_in_alabama_order.html

Federal judge in Alabama orders mediation for Chantix lawsuits not yet settled

By Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com The Birmingham News
on March 13, 2013 at 8:00 AM

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A federal judge in Alabama, who presides over an estimated 2,700 federal lawsuits filed against Pfizer Inc.'s smoking cessation drug Chantix, has ordered plaintiffs who haven't yet reached settlements in their cases to go into mediation to reach agreements.

The judge has assigned a mediator for the case.

Pfizer on Feb. 28 told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission it had reached settlements in about 80 percent of the cases and was assuming a loss of $273 million to settle them. It expects to spend another $15 million to settle the remaining cases.

U.S. District Court Judge Inge Johnson on Tuesday issued an order that states that she has been informed by the lead counsel for the parties that a substantial majority of the cases have been resolved.

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Pfizer settles 80 percent of more than 2,700 lawsuits claiming problems with smoking cessation drug Chantix

Pfizer settles 80 percent of more than 2,700 lawsuits claiming problems with smoking cessation drug Chantix

Quoted from http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/03/pfizer_settles_80_percent_of_t.html

Pfizer settles 80 percent of more than 2,700 lawsuits claiming problems with smoking cessation drug Chantix

By Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com The Birmingham News
on March 01, 2013

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Pfizer Inc. has settled about 80 percent of the more than 2,700 lawsuits filed against it in federal and state courts nationwide over its smoking cessation drug Chantix, according to a company filing with a federal regulator this week.

The company says it is assuming a loss of $273 million for 2012 to settle those cases and expects to spend an estimated $15 million more to settle remaining ones in the future, according to the filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most of the more than 2,700 lawsuits filed nationwide by people who complained of psychological problems, including suicides or suicide attempts, were consolidated as a multidistrict litigation _ or MDL _ in Birmingham federal court under U.S. District Court Judge Inge Johnson.

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Pfizer settles Alabama man's lawsuit against the company's smoking cessation drug Chantix

Pfizer settles Alabama man's lawsuit against the company's smoking cessation drug Chantix

Quoted from http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/01/pfizer_settles_alabama_mans_la.html

Pfizer settles Alabama man's lawsuit against the company's smoking cessation drug Chantix

By Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com The Birmingham News
on January 15, 2013 at 10:12 AM, updated January 16, 2013 at 7:12 AM

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Pfizer Inc. has reached an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit filed by a Demopolis man who claims the company's smoking cessation drug Chantix caused him to have suicidal thoughts and other psychological problems after he began taking it in 2007.

A trial over claims in the lawsuit was to begin Jan. 23 and was to have been the first test case to be tried among more than 2,600 lawsuits filed in federal court nationwide making claims about Chantix.

Ernest Cory, attorney for Billy G. Bedsole Jr., told U.S. District Judge Inge P. Johnson this morning that a settlement had been reached with Pfizer in the case during a hearing this morning. He told her that attorneys should have an order to her in the next 30 days for her to dismiss Bedsole's case.

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Pfizer settles Alabama man's lawsuit against the company's smoking cessation drug Chantix

Pfizer CEO Must Testify in Chantix Trial, Lawyer Says

Stop-smoking drug Chantix may carry heart risks, FDA warns

Stop-smoking drug Chantix may carry heart risks, FDA warns

Quoted from http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121214/PRIME01/312150017/Stop-smoking-drug-Chantix-may-carry-heart-risks-FDA-warns

Stop-smoking drug Chantix may carry heart risks, FDA warns

12:10 PM, Dec 14, 2012 |

 

Robert Preidt

HealthDay

People who take the prescription quit-smoking drug Chantix may be at higher risk for cardiovascular problems, and doctors should weigh the risks of the drug against it benefits, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

A major review of clinical trials that compared patients who took Chantix (varenicline) to patients who took a placebo found that those who took the drug had slightly higher rates of serious cardiovascular events such as nonfatal heart attack, nonfatal stroke and cardiovascular-related death, according to an FDA drug safety communication .

However, the increased risk among people taking Chantix was not statistically significant, which means that it is unclear whether their increased risk was due to the drug or due to chance, the agency added.

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Pfizer Resolves Chantix Product-Liability Case Ahead of Trial

Alabama man's Chantix lawsuit now set to be first test case

Judge Denies Pfizer Request for Delay in Chantix Trial

Pfizer CEO Must Testify in Chantix Trial, Lawyer Says

Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-16/pfizer-ceo-must-testify-in-chantix-trial-lawyer-says.html

Pfizer CEO Must Testify in Chantix Trial, Lawyer Says

By Jef Feeley and Margaret Cronin Fisk - Nov 16, 2012 4:22 PM ET

Pfizer Inc.’s top executive must testify in court about claims the company’s anti-smoking drug Chantix causes depression and other psychiatric disorders, a lawyer for an Alabama man suing over the medication said.

Attorneys for Billy Bedsole have subpoenaed Ian Read, Pfizer’s chief executive officer, and two other officials to testify live at the trial of Bedsole’s claims that the anti- smoking drug caused his breakdown and forced him to be institutionalized, said Ernest Cory, one of Bedsole’s lawyers. U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson has denied Pfizer’s request to throw out the subpoenas, Cory added.

The trial, which would be the first patient lawsuit over Chantix to be heard by a jury, is slated for Jan. 22, 2013, in federal court in Florence, Alabama, according to court records.

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Alabama man's Chantix lawsuit now set to be first test case

Quoted from http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/10/demopolis_mans_chantix_lawsuit.html

Alabama man's Chantix lawsuit now set to be first test case

Published: Thursday, October 18, 2012, 6:35 PM Updated: Friday, October 19, 2012, 6:47 AM

By Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com The Birmingham News

FLORENCE, Alabama - Billy G. Bedsole Jr. began taking the smoking cessation drug Chantix in August 2007 to try and break a 34-year habit.

The 53-year-old Demopolis man, however, claims in a lawsuit that the drug triggered "insomnia, severe anxiety, severe depression, erratic behavior, suicidal ideation, and hospitalization."

Bedsole's 2009 lawsuit is among 2,635 federal lawsuits filed nationwide against Pfizer Inc. claiming that Chantix causes a variety of psychological conditions, including suicides.

n Wednesday the Bedsole lawsuit became the lead bellwether, or test case, among those federal lawsuits. The trial is slated to begin Jan. 22 in Florence before U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson.

The Bedsole lawsuit reached that status Wednesday after Pfizer agreed to a settlement with Judy Ann Whitely, a Minnesota woman who blamed her husband's 2007 suicide on his use of Chantix. The trial in that case was to have begun Monday before Johnson.

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Pfizer Resolves Chantix Product-Liability Case Ahead of Trial

Quoted from http://professional.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20121018-710407.html

Pfizer Resolves Chantix Product-Liability Case Ahead of Trial

By Peter Loftus

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) settled a product-liability lawsuit over its smoking-cessation drug Chantix, averting what would have been the first trial in the Chantix litigation.

The lawsuit "has been amicably resolved," according to an order Wednesday dismissing the case from U.S. District Judge Inge Prytz Johnson in the northern district of Alabama.

Terms of the resolution aren't being disclosed, said a Pfizer spokesman. Attorneys for the plaintiff couldn't immediately be reached.

A trial was scheduled to begin Monday in a lawsuit brought by a Duluth, Minn., woman alleging her husband's use of Chantix caused him to commit suicide in 2007. Judy Whitely accused Pfizer of failing to properly warn of the risks before her husband, Mark, began using Chantix, and she was seeking damages. Pfizer denied the allegations.

The case is one of more than 2,600 lawsuits in federal court containing accusations that use of Chantix caused suicides or other mental-health problems.

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Judge Denies Pfizer Request for Delay in Chantix Trial

Quoted from http://www.nasdaq.com/article/2nd-update-judge-denies-pfizer-request-for-delay-in-chantix-trial-20121016-01508

Judge Denies Pfizer Request for Delay in Chantix Trial

By Peter Loftus

A federal judge denied Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) request to delay the start of the first product-liability trial surrounding its smoking-cessation drug Chantix, a delay the company said was needed because of newly released clinical data.

New York-based Pfizer is facing more than 2,600 lawsuits in federal court containing accusations that the smoking- cessation drug Chantix caused users to commit suicide or experience other mental-health problems, and that the drug maker failed to adequately warn of these risks. Safety concerns surrounding the drug have hurt its sales growth.

The first trial is scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Alabama, and stems from a lawsuit brought by a Duluth, Minn., woman alleging her husband's use of Chantix caused him to commit suicide in 2007. Judy Whitely accused Pfizer of failing to properly warn of the risks before her husband Mark began using Chantix, and she is seeking damages.

Pfizer has denied the allegations, arguing in court papers that there is no evidence Chantix causes suicide-related events, and that it has properly warned of the various potential risks of the drug.

Tuesday, lawyers for Pfizer filed a motion seeking to delay the trial's start until Jan. 22, because the company released results Tuesday of a clinical trial involving Chantix. The study found Chantix was more effective than a placebo in helping people with past or present depression quit smoking, and there was no difference between the drug and a placebo in measures of psychiatric health, according to Pfizer's press release.

Pfizer asked a federal judge to delay the trial "to allow all parties to complete discovery and any pre-trial motion practice" related to the new clinical data, according to a motion filed by Pfizer Tuesday.

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Pfizer Appeals Court’s Order for CEO to Testify at Trial

Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/pfizer-appeals-court-s-order-for-ceo-to-testify-at-trial.html

Pfizer Appeals Court’s Order for CEO to Testify at Trial

By Margaret Cronin Fisk - Oct 11, 2012 7:43 PM ET

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) appealed a judge’s order that Chief Executive Officer Ian Read testify in person at a federal trial over claims that use of its anti-smoking drug Chantix caused a Minnesota man to commit suicide.

The family of Mark Alan Whitely sued Pfizer after his death in November 2007, alleging the company failed to sufficiently warn that Chantix could increase the risk of suicide. The Whitely lawsuit is the first of more than 2,500 Chantix cases pending in federal court in Alabama to go to trial, according to court records.

U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson ordered Read and two other company executives to testify live at the trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 22 in Florence, Alabama. Pfizer asked the federal appeals court in Atlanta to erase her Oct. 4 order as “plainly beyond the court’s subpoena power.”

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Federal judge sets dates for first two trials against Pfizer over Chantix stop-smoking drug

Quoted from http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/03/federal_judge_sets_dates_for_f.html

Federal judge sets dates for first two trials against Pfizer over Chantix stop-smoking drug

Published: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 10:45 PM Updated: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 10:56 PM

By Kent Faulk -- The Birmingham News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A federal judge in north Alabama has set dates for the first two trials to be held in thousands of civil lawsuits filed nationwide against pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer Inc. over Chantix, a drug to help people stop smoking.

The two lawsuits also are part of a pool of eight selected by U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson to be bellwether -- or test -- cases in the litigation. Johnson is to preside over those first trials.

 

Johnson, in a recent order, set the first case for trial on Oct. 22 in a lawsuit originally filed by Duluth, Minn., resident Judy Ann Whitely against Pfizer for the wrongful death of her husband. Mark Alan Whitely began using Chantix on Nov. 20, 2007, and he committed suicide.

As with many of the lawsuits that were filed using a standard form for the Chantix litigation, the Whitely suit does not give any details of Mark Alan Whitely's suicide, whether he had any other problems, or the date of his death. Efforts to reach the attorneys in Minnesota for Whitely were unsuccessful last week.

The next case is set for Jan. 22, 2013. In that case, a representative of the estate of Sandra Corey, of Jacksonville, Ore., is suing Pfizer for wrongful death. That lawsuit claims that Corey began using Chantix on Oct. 2, 2007, and that the drug caused depression and suicide by gunshot on July 24, 2008.

If both the Whitely and Corey cases are tried as scheduled, the third case would be one filed in 2009 by a Demopolis man, Billy Bedsole Jr., who claims he suffered insomnia, severe anxiety, severe depression, erratic behavior, suicidal ideation and hospitalization after taking Chantix.

If the first two cases are settled, dismissed or resolved, then the Bedsole case would be the first case tried, according to Johnson's order.

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