Pfizer Says Consultant In Drug Cases Tried to Sway Witness
Dr. David Egilman, a Brown University medical professor, “improperly contacted” the treating physician of a Massachusetts man whose family claims he killed himself after taking the drug, Pfizer said in a court filing yesterday. Pfizer asked the judge to punish Egilman for sending a sealed document to the doctor. Pfizer faces a trial in this case, brought by the family of Hartley Shearer, in March.
Egilmans letter to Shearers doctor was “a transparent attempt to taint her perceptions of Pfizer shortly before her deposition,” Pfizer said. Egilman enclosed “a confidential internal e-mail between Pfizer employees,” along with other documents, in his letter to Dr. Lisa Catapano- Friedman, the company said.
Pfizer asked U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris in Boston to bar Egilman and plaintiffs lawyers in the Shearer case or other lawsuits from talking to treating doctors or providing them with negative information about the company or the drug. Pfizer also asked for “appropriate sanctions” on Egilman.
Christopher Loder, a Pfizer spokesman, said the company wouldnt comment beyond the filing.
Egilman declined to comment on the motion before talking to a lawyer.
“Dr. Egilman, an expert, writes to doctors to give them some information and see if they will visit him, and Pfizer thinks that is wrong?” attorney Mark Lanier, who represents plaintiffs in the Neurontin litigation, said in an e-mailed message.
Intimidating Witnesses
“Pfizer needs to let the truth out and quit trying to keep it undercover by intimidating witnesses with thugs and sanctions motions,” he said.
New York-based Pfizer faces about 1,200 lawsuits claiming its Neurontin increases the risk of suicide. Pfizer disputes any connection between suicide and Neurontin use.
The first Neurontin trial ended the day after opening statements when the family of Susan Bulger, who killed herself in 2003, dropped the case. Egilman served as a spokesman for the Bulger family.
Egilman had previously been sanctioned by a federal judge in New York for disclosing confidential documents in lawsuits brought against Eli Lilly & Co. over its antipsychotic medication Zyprexa, Pfizer said.
Egilman helped to provide sealed documents to a New York Times reporter, U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein said in a 2007 ruling, ordering Egilman and a lawyer in Alaska, James Gottstein, to return the papers to Lilly. Weinstein called the revelation of sealed documents “unprincipled.”
Egilman subsequently agreed to pay $100,000 to a charity to settle Lillys claims against him over the release of the documents.
Neurontins 2008 sales of $387 million represented 0.8 percent of Pfizers total revenue, which included $12 billion for the cholesterol pill Lipitor, the worlds biggest-selling drug.
Pfizers Warner-Lambert unit paid $430 million in 2004 to resolve off-label marketing allegations involving Neurontin by the U.S. Justice Department.
Egilman also provided information to Dr. Catapano-Friedman about this settlement and a $2.3 billion settlement by Pfizer this month over federal allegations of off-label marketing of the pain medication Bextra and three other drugs, Pfizer said.
Judge Saris is overseeing all federal-court litigation over Neurontin, which includes product-liability claims like the Shearer familys and suits by insurance companies and consumers seeking to recoup money spent on the drug.
The case is Shearer v. Pfizer Inc., 1:07-cv-11428, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston). The suit is part of In Re Neurontin Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1629.