Legal News

Pfizer Strikes Some Tentative Settlements in Bextra and Celebrex Cases

By Dan Slater

Just days before the first Bextra trial was to begin, Pfizer has struck tentative settlements with some plaintiffs who alleged that painkillers Celebrex and Bextra caused heart attacks, according to lawyers at three plaintiff firms involved in the litigation. Here’s the breaking story from the WSJ’s Nathan Koppel and Heather Won Tesoriero.

Unlike Merck’s global settlement of its Vioxx litigation, Pfizer is attempting to resolve its liability on a firm-by-firm basis, according to the story. A lawyer at one law firm said he had been offered about $200,000 a client, on average, to settle his cases involving Bextra (not on the market) and an average of $40,000 to $50,000 a client to resolve Celebrex suits (on the market).

Attorneys representing Pfizer, according to two lawyers, have indicated the company is willing to pay as much $500 million overall to resolve the litigation. There are thousands of cases.

The first Bextra trial was due to begin Monday in federal court in San Francisco. Beverly Haslam, the plaintiff in that case, claims her husband died from a heart attack that resulted from taking Bextra. Earlier this week, the parties agreed to adjourn the case so Pfizer could attempt to settle Celebrex and Bextra cases across the country, according to a lawyer involved in the Haslam case.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 02, 2008 (boomark / email).