A recent announcement that pertains to a Chantix lawsuit has stated that the CEO of Pfizer (the makers of the quit smoking drug) will be called to testify in the first of an estimated 2,500 claims against the company over the drug’s side effects.
Various users of Chantix are complaining about the side effects linked to Chantix, which is made with metoclopramide (generic Reglan). While some users have committed suicide after taking Chantix, others have suffered from neurological conditions. This is no surprise to Reglan users, many of whom have developed various different neurological conditions after taking Reglan. The most common of those disorders is tardive dyskinesia, which is characterized with patients experiencing symptoms that mimic Parkinson’s disease. Some of those symptoms include involuntary movements of the extremities, excessive blinking, lip smacking, grimacing and tongue protrusion.
While Pfizer has tried to prevent in-person testimony, the court has decided to force three top executives at Pfizer to testify, and CEO Ian Read is among them. Last month, Pfizer was able to reach a settlement in a case that was originally supposed to go to trial in October. That case involved a Chantix user that had committed suicide after taking the drug.
The next case, which is set to go to trial in January 2013, was filed Billy Bedsole. He is claiming that Chantix use made him suffer from suicidal thoughts and act out in a way that forced his institutionalization. The FDA has acknowledged the risks involved with Chantix use and issued a black box warning about the drug in 2009. The drug was once considered dangerous specifically for the Reglan-related side effects, but since then, Chantix has been found to be far more dangerous than at first perceived.
