Lawyers Set to Bring More Suits

By BARNABY J. FEDER

Published: April 8, 2005

The government's decision to force Pfizer to withdraw the pain drug Bextra and add warnings to the label of a similar drug, Celebrex, has galvanized the informal network of lawyers pursuing death and injury suits aimed at the two drugs and their chemical relative, Vioxx.

Yesterday, at least one new Bextra suit was filed against Pfizer in Houston, adding to a smattering of others from around the country in the last year. And a Louisiana lawyer, anticipating a flood of new suits, filed a motion calling for consolidation of federal Bextra and Celebrex cases.

The two Pfizer drugs and Vioxx belong to a class of drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors. So far, most of the cox-2 suits have focused on another drug in the class, Vioxx, whose maker, Merck, pulled it from the market last September, citing new evidence of cardiovascular risks. Hundreds of Vioxx cases have already been consolidated under a federal judge in New Orleans, and the first state cases are scheduled to go to trial in May in Texas and Alabama.

But the withdrawal of Bextra could now help turn a relatively small number of lawsuits against Pfizer into a torrent - even though it was the drug's potential to cause a rare skin condition, rather than its cardiovascular risks, that prompted regulators to force it off the market.

Law firms handling complaints involving cox-2 drugs said yesterday that they were busy fielding calls from potential clients and other lawyers as word spread of the Food and Drug Administration's decision.

Critics have said for years that cox-2 drugs increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Clinical data has supported these contentions to varying degrees with each of the three drugs. Plaintiffs' lawyers said that cardiovascular injuries would remain the focus of Bextra suits because they were the most common major problem. The lawyers argue that all three drugs were marketed deceptively and too aggressively - assertions Pfizer and Merck deny.

Pfizer declined to speculate on the potential legal fallout from the withdrawal of Bextra and the additional label warnings for Celebrex. Plaintiffs' lawyers said that because they assumed that Bextra would one day be withdrawn, yesterday's news had more effect on the timing of lawsuits against Pfizer than on the strength of the arguments.

"The science is what's bad for Vioxx and Bextra," said Christopher A. Seeger, a lawyer in Manhattan who began filing Vioxx suits in 2001, "and that didn't change today."

Some analysts have said that Merck's liability for Vioxx may run as high as $30 billion. Bextra was not as widely used as Celebrex or Vioxx, so Pfizer's exposure there is likely to be more limited. Celebrex, to date, has a better safety profile than the two others, and plaintiffs' lawyers say that Pfizer is in a stronger position to prevail in Celebrex suits.

The Bextra lawsuit filed in federal court in Houston yesterday was brought by a 55-year-old physicist who blames the drug for a stroke he suffered in November. The man is back at work at a nuclear power plant in Bay City, Tex., but is handling a reduced workload, according to his lawyer, Carlene Lewis.

Daniel E. Becnel Jr., a Louisiana lawyer who has two Bextra federal lawsuits pending in New Orleans, said he had more than 500 others in various stages of preparation, along with several hundred Celebrex complaints not yet filed. Yesterday, he sent a motion to an administrative panel in Washington that oversees litigation involving multiple federal courts, asking that all such Bextra litigation be consolidated in New Orleans.

Mr. Becnel asked that the Bextra cases, along with suits against Pfizer over Celebrex, be sent to Judge Stanwood Duval in New Orleans, who has been assigned the first two cases he filed. In February, the administrative panel ordered consolidation of the Vioxx injury cases and assigned them to Judge Eldon E. Fallon in New Orleans. Later, it consolidated shareholder suits against Merck stemming from its handling of Vioxx and assigned them to Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Trenton.

Mr. Becnel said that having all the cox-2 injury cases before Judge Duval and Judge Fallon would make it easier for plaintiffs' lawyers to coordinate their schedules and allow for sharing of documents on matters related to both Merck and Pfizer. It may also make it easier to deal with cases where plaintiffs used both companies' products, he said.