Pfizer initiates settlements of its painkiller cases

NEW YORK Pfizer has begun settling cases over its Celebrex and Bextra painkillers, according to Bloomberg.

More than 3,000 patients have claimed that the drugs caused heart attacks and strokes. Celebrex, in the same class of medicines as Merck’s recalled Vioxx, is Pfizer’s third-best-selling drug. The product, which is still on the market, generated $2.3 billion in sales in 2007, a 12 percent increase from the previous year.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Pfizer had reached settlements with three law firms representing more than 200 of the thousands who sued over the drugs. Firms have been offered $40,000 to $50,000 per client to resolve Bextra cases and as much as $200,000 a client for Celebrex, The Journal reported, citing an unidentified lawyer.

Pfizer withdrew Bextra in April 2005 after it was tied to a potentially fatal skin condition. The first Bextra trial, due to begin today in federal court in San Francisco, was postponed until May 29, according to court records.