Pfizer is being accused for misleading its shareholders regarding its pain relieving medications, Bextra and Celebrex.
Circumstances have not been easy for Pfizer; first, its goals are shattered after the US Treasury notifies it of the changes in its policies and rules in order to stop corporate inversions. This stopped and pushed the company from continuing the merger that it had planned for more than a year with Allergen Plc.
This would have changed its home address to Ireland and shorten its tax bills to 18% rather than the 25% it pays to the United States. It looks like the pressures did not end there; now it is facing a lawsuit filed by its shareholders that are accusing the medicinal giant of misleading them regarding its pain relief medications, Bextra and Celebrex.
Shareholders of Pfizer Inc. claim that they were misled about the safety of Bextra and Celebrex with a vote of 3-0. The US Judge Laura Taylor Swain might be dismissing this lawsuit after stopping a former law school Dean from testifying for the shareholders of the damages these drugs impose. It looks like the government might still be on the US Drug maker’s side.
This is not the first lawsuit this month that has been dismissed by the court; another case regarding Zoloft was dismissed, regarding birth defects. The dismissal of the Zoloft case was done because of no scientific evidence for the accusations, according to the Judge handling the case. The US officials might sympathize with the company after it had to walk away from the $160 billion merger. The dismissals are for valid reasons, according to the Judge Swain who made the incorrect conclusion that G.D Searle & CO and Pharmacia Corp did not find the company liable for statements.
This lawsuit has been going on since 2004 and includes shareholders that bought the stocks of the pharmaceutical company from October 31 in 2000 till October 19, 2005. Pfizer even made a statement regarding this issue that said that it did communicate well and accurately with scientific information regarding tis medicines to its shareholders and investors, even the public and consumers at all times necessary and will keep on defending itself in this lawsuit.
When the lawsuit was filed, Pfizer even decided to pull out Bextra from the market of the United States in April and even made an agreement to pay $2.3 billion as a settlement in the September of 2009 to the US Department of Justice. Shareholders on the other hand kept on claiming that the company kept the tests results hidden that took place in 1998 and mislead them about the risks that these drugs were imposing.
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