Pfizer Reaches $894M Painkiller Settlement

Deal Will End Most Lawsuits Attached To Harm Allegedly Caused By Bextra And Celebrex

(AP)  Drug giant Pfizer Inc. has reached an $894 million deal to end most of the lawsuits over its two prescription pain relievers, the popular Celebrex and a similar drug, Bextra, no longer on the market.

The world's biggest drugmaker said Friday it has agreements in principle to end more than 90 percent of personal injury lawsuits brought by people claiming the pills caused heart attacks, strokes or other harm.

Pfizer hopes to settle those suits, which cover up to 92 percent of plaintiffs, by year's end. It also hopes to include many of the remaining claimants in the settlement and will fight any remaining personal injury suits with court motions or at trial, General Counsel Amy Schulman told The Associated Press.

"I don't think either side has an interest in protracting this," Schulman said in an interview.

She said the deal comes after two important court rulings - one by a New York state judge overseeing many of the state-level personal injury cases and the other by a federal judge in San Francisco coordinating pretrial steps in federal lawsuits over the drugs.

"We teed up some pretrial motions for a court ruling on whether there was significantly reliable evidence that would allow an expert to testify as to whether there was an increased risk of heart attack and stroke at the most common dose," 200 milligrams, Schulman said. Both judges ruled that was not the case, she said.

The proposed deal also would end suits by insurers and patients seeking to recover what they spent on Bextra and Celebrex, as well as claims by 33 states and the District of Columbia that Pfizer improperly promoted Bextra.

Out of the total settlement, $745 million will go to settle personal injury cases, $60 million will cover settlements with attorneys general in the 33 states and the District of Columbia, and $89 million will cover consumer fraud class action cases over reimbursement for money spent on the two drugs. Two additional states, Louisiana and Mississippi, still have pending cases regarding Pfizer's promotion of the drugs.

New York-based Pfizer's research and development headquarters are in Connecticut, in New London and Groton. The company withdrew Bextra from the market in 2005, a year after Merck & Co. withdrew its Vioxx, a similar drug.

The Vioxx withdrawal, which triggered an avalanche of lawsuits against Merck, also raised concerns about the safety of other medicines in the same class, called Cox-2 inhibitors. They were heavily touted by their makers as superior to traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen, because they block an enzyme involved in promoting inflammation but - unlike NSAIDs - don't block an enzyme that protects the stomach from bleeding and other side effects.

Other NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen and naproxen, have also been linked to some increased heart risks.

Celebrex is the only Cox-2 inhibitor that the Food and Drug Administration has allowed to remain on the U.S. market.

Schulman said the company's negotiations with opposing lawyers had been under way for some time but picked up in the late summer.

"Litigation can be distracting, and putting these matters behind us helps our shareholders and, most importantly, patients and doctors," Schulman said.

Pfizer will take a pre-tax charge of $894 million to its third-quarter earnings, which it is scheduled to report on Tuesday.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., has begun paying a $4.85 billion settlement to end about 50,000 lawsuits brought by people claiming Vioxx cause heart attacks, ischemic strokes or death. It still faces other litigation over the former blockbuster arthritis treatment.

[JosephGTimmeJr]

SECON REQUEST: your station had a advertism for a Lawery who is handling people with past problems using celebrex. The advertisment was on the price is Right Program. Would you please provide the Lawerys telphone number. I surely appreciate your time in this matter.

[staleyjim]

It is good that people have the money that they can do some thing like this. When I was concern about the health care of the patients at the University of Michigan Health Systems soon later after, I told of sleeping workers and patiens could of died, I soon later was fired and the sleeping workers were promoted to manager and supervisor.

That is the way the U of M will settle a person that speaks up they have them fired and promote the people that have the worker fired.

Not every one has the money to get a Lawyer and to try to sue a large corporation, if they have the means wonderful, I have a example what will happen if you are a poor hospital worker and what happens when you do what is called speak up to help the patients befor it is too late. Please read my story, it is all true and there is alot more.

James Staley
Ann Arbor, Michigan

If any one is interested, I will give you more facts and how if you are White the Black will work together to also have you fired from the University of Michigan.

I did prove my case and I was told too bad we are the U of M and you will not win. I did not win and it has been 3 years and I am still fired while the sleeping workers are still promoted at the U of M Medical Center.



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[godofredo29]

Here''s a vent: Guys, are you tired of statins using the statement "muscle soreness...a sign of a rare but serious side effect" in their advertisements? If you go to the gym you hear guys complaining about this so-called rare but serious side effect all them time! It ain''t that rare. It''s called rhabdomyolisis and, if you''re a guy and therefore have the hormone testosterone in your body, then you''re going to have trouble with this. In race horses it''s called "tying up" and trainers know all about it. So, if they put you on statins, kiss your workouts goodbye.

[imredeemed-2009]

The real question is how much money did the drug companies make before they got caught. The dirty little secret within the drug companies is that they spend countless hours before submitting drugs for approval deciding how long these side effects will take to start harming us and how much money they will make before they get caught. You''d think the FDA would know this by now, but I guess the drug companies profits find their way to the FDA bank accounts too. That''s why most of the drug co. board of directors don''t use alot of their own drugs.