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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