Federal Appeals Court Brings Back Fraud Suit Against Pfizer

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A federal appeals court rejuvenated a securities fraud suit against Pfizer. Investors claim the company was hiding the truth about the outcome of studies on the possible side effects of Celebrex, an arthritis drug.

The suit says that Pharmacia falsely trumped the data from the first six months of a study, so that they could assert that Celebrex had fewer gastrointestinal side effects than other arthritis drugs.

Pfizer won the first round in the suit. US District Judge Anne E. Thompson of the District of new Jersey dismissed the suit, on the ground of a statute-of-limitations. She found that investors had “storm warnings” of possible problems in the study when the FDA released a critical report in February 2001.

  

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The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, now, that Thompson imposed too strict a gauge on the existence of any so called “storm warnings.”

“The totality of the evidence in the public realm as of February 2001 did not indicate a possibility of fraud or even hint at any malfeasance or intentional impropriety; rather, the evidence only supported the view that there existed a legitimate dispute over scientific and statistical models,” U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry wrote.

Celebrex is an anti-inflammatory drug which is more expensive than many other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).