Five Illinois residents claim they have suffered strokes, heart attacks, and other serious side effects after taking the once popular painkiller Celebrex in a product liability lawsuit they filed against the drug manufacturer.
The suit, which seeks unspecified economic damages, names Pfizer, Pharmacia, Monsanta, G.D. Searle, and Walgreen Co. as defendants.
Case Details
Celebrex was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1998 to ease pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. However, the Cox-2 inhibitor drug—which is in the same category as the recalled Vioxx—was linked to potentially life-threatening adverse events and was the subject to thousands of personal injury lawsuits nationwide.
The five plaintiffs in the Madison County case claim to have suffered serious effects after using the drug including:
- Bryan Williams claims to have suffered a heart attack
- John Wiese alleges he suffered a heart attack
- Diane Ribbentrop claims she suffered a heart attack
- Lorraine Thurmon alleges she suffered a stroke
- Kathleen Kaplan claims she suffered a severe skin reaction and other injuries
Deceptive Marketing
According to the lawsuit, Celebrex is defective in design, was inadequately tested for safety and efficacy, poses serious dangers to human health, and lacked proper warnings of the risks linked to its use.
The plaintiffs claim that Pfizer, the drug maker, launched one of the biggest “direct-to-consumer” marketing campaigns that deceived consumers around the country.
“Pfizer’s massive marketing campaign fraudulently and misleadingly depicted Celebrex as a much safer and more effective pain reliever than less expensive traditional NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)” the lawsuit states.
Additionally, the suit alleges that the drug company purposely “concealed, suppressed, omitted, and misrepresented” results of clinical trials, which revealed that Celebrex raised the risk of significant cardiovascular effects.
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