Pfizer Faces First Trial On Claim Neurontin Boosts Suicide Risk
The July 27 trial will be the first of what plaintiffs lawyers say are about 1,200 cases. It will show each side the others strategy and may help point the way to settlements. The lead attorney for the family of Susan Bulger, 39, who took the drug before hanging herself in 2004, is Mark Lanier, winner of the biggest verdict over Merck & Co.s painkiller Vioxx.
Pfizer says Bulgers suicide was unrelated to its medicine and points to what it calls a history of mental disorders and abusing drugs including cocaine. Her past might make it hard for the family to win, said Robert Rabin, a law professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
“If she was taking other drugs, theres a question if this particular drug contributed to the suicide,” Rabin said in a phone interview.
U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris in Boston made a similar point at a July 20 pretrial hearing. Its “a very tough case because of her personal history,” she said.
Pfizer hasnt taken a reserve to deal with litigation expenses tied to the suits, said Christopher Loder, a company spokesman. Neurontins 2008 sales of $387 million represented 0.8 percent of its total revenue, which included $12 billion for the cholesterol pill Lipitor, the worlds biggest-selling drug.
Bulgers Life
The company says Bulgers life was “fraught with psycho- social stressors, including physical and mental abuse, long-term substance abuse and addiction to cocaine, heroin, Methadone and Oxycontin.”
“Mrs. Bulger attempted suicide multiple times before ever ingesting Neurontin,” Pfizer said in court papers. “Six months before her suicide, Mrs. Bulger was caught buying cocaine on the street,” it said.
Saris told lawyers she hadnt decided how much of the information will be admissible in the trial.
Lanier, a Houston lawyer representing the family and about 600 other Neurontin plaintiffs, counters that the drug helped push a “fragile lady” over the edge. He is asking $250,000 in compensation plus punitive damages.
Lanier was among attorneys who negotiated a $4.85 billion settlement with Merck & Co. in 2007 to resolve the majority of cases over its painkiller Vioxx. He won a $253 million jury award in 2005 in the first Vioxx trial. The verdict was cut to about $26 million, then thrown out on appeal. The case is still on appeal in the Texas courts.
The lawyer vowed in an interview to expose Pfizers “seedy” handling of Neurontin during the three-week trial. Pfizer hid the drugs health risks to pump up profits, he said.
Lanier also will rely on a December decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to order all makers of epilepsy drugs to add a suicide-risk warning to their labels.
The agencys reviewers found an 80 percent rise in suicidal thoughts and behavior in data from 199 studies of 11 drugs. Pfizer opposed the warning, saying Neurontin was safe and it was unfair to combine data for medicines that work differently.
The government-required suicide warning may tip the scales against Pfizer in subsequent trials, said Rabin, the law professor. “Plaintiffs would have a better chance in other cases,” he said.
“If this person wins, it opens the door for more litigation,” said Les Funtleyder, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “It could become an issue for Wall Street if the verdicts and settlements are large enough.”
Testimony on Cause
The judge refused to dismiss the Bulger case and others on alleged failure to warn of Neurontins side effects. She rejected Pfizers bid to block expert testimony the drug increases the risk of suicide.