Pfizer, the manufacturer of the epilepsy medication Neurontin has been involved in many claims by plaintiffs who blame the drug for creating suicidal tendencies. One such lawsuit, by a Massachusetts’ man’s survivors, has just been settled by Pfizer for a reported $400,000. The lawsuit was settled part-way through the trial. This is the first settlement of a Neurontin lawsuit.
The basis for the suit, as in all the Neurontin claims, was that Pfizer knew the drug posed a suicide risk and failed to disclose it to patients and doctors. There are more than 1000 remaining Neurontin lawsuits against Pfizer, all saying that Pfizer illegally promoted Neurontin for unapproved uses and helped cause some users’ suicides.
This settlement comes only a week after another jury ordered Pfizer to pay more than $140 million in damages to an insurance company in a lawsuit also involving Neurontin. In addition to the civil lawsuits, the Warner-Lambert subsidiary of Pfizer pleaded guilty in 2004 to criminal charges filed by the Justice Department in connection with allegations it illegally marketed Neurontin.
Still another jury last month said Pfizer must pay Kaiser Foundation Health Plan $47.4 million for misleading doctors on whether Neurontin was effective for illnesses such as migraines and bipolar disorder. That jury found the drugmaker violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, and California’s Unfair Competition Law. Pfizer also paid $2.3 billion in October 2009 to settle allegations it illegally marketed the painkiller Bextra and three other drugs.
I for one am glad that Pfizer is finally getting caught with their proverbial pants down. They made billions on Neurontin and other drugs. They lied to the public, the doctors even to themselves. Money hungry thats all they are. Put a black box warning let the people make an informed choice. They pleaded guilty. Now they should pay for the deaths that they caused by misinforming the public. Every single one who lost a loved one or had a loved one injured while taking this drug should be compensated. The insurance companies are and nobody died writing out the checks to Pfizer. Do I sound bitter darn right I do my husband killed himself while taking neurontin for only 6 months if we would have been warned maybe we would have known what was going on. Insurance companies got millions for prescribing, the whistle blower got millions for turning them in, Pfizer is still making billions and the people left behind in devistation are losing their loved ones, homes and etc how much should our dead loved ones be worth.
Pfizer is not a money hungry drug company. Wake-up people! Neurontin is a drug designed for epilepsy to stop seizures. If you take it for any other reason it is at your own risk. All epilepsy drugs may increase depression, and so need monitoring by a neurologist. Neurontin is an excellent drug to stop or control seizures. It like any other epilepsy drug is a strong powerful mental drug having numerous side-effects because it controls the neurological firing of brain waves over synapsis by slowing them down to stop a seizure. All epilepsy drugs have side-effects. Stop whinning about the side-effects of Neurontin and stop trying to win money off of Pfizer. I know people who have taken Neurontin for over 10 years and it successfully controls their seizures. Would you like to have 20 seizures a day and risk falling to the floor and bang your head? Keep this drug on the market for the purpose it was designed for and stop your whinning lawsuits. Would you like to live with uncontrolled epilepsy because I don’t think so?
Thank you for your comment. I admit that I take Neurontin myself. The problem is that drug companies sometimes create a drug that solves one problem, but then market that drug to physicians for other uses, without always disclosing the potential side effects. The doctors then don’t know (or perhaps don’t take the time to understand) the side effects well enough to explain the risks to their patients. The result is that patients take medications without knowing the potential dangers.