Lipitor Litigation

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Litigation attorneys: http://www.spacedoc.net/law/lipitor_litigation.htmOn the News; NO proof that lowering cholesterol would prevent coronary heart disease or lowered mortality rates : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=31380Lipitor LitigationClass Action Lawsuit FiledAgainst Pfizer, Inc.Filed 28 September 2005United States District CourtDistrict of MassachusettsPlaintiffs: Teamsters Local No. 5 Health Plans, Nancy Yost, Robert Martin and Health Care For All, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated.Versus: Pfizer, IncBACKGROUNDThe lack of cardiovascular benefit from the use of statins for cholesterol reduction in women and the elderly was brought out by Uffe Ravnskov years ago in his book, Cholesterol Myths, and had been corroborated repeatedly since then by numerous longitudinal clinical studies. Despite this, Pfizer has seen fit to continue active promotion of their product, Lipitor, to these two target groups. As this class action document states “Pfizer’s overall marketing campaign obfuscates and, indeed, fails to disclose the fact that while Lipitor lowers cholesterol there is no evidence that this reduction has any effect on the for women or elderly patients”.In addition, Pfizer’s promotion of Lipitor has thus created an artificial demand for Lipitor, which would not exist if full and fair disclosure had been made concerning benefit lack in the female and elderly population. Pfizer’s Lipitor promotion and advertising campaign has resulted in billions of dollars of unnecessary drug expenditures at a time when the rising costs of health care is creating a crisis and drug costs are the most rapidly increasing component of the Health Care System.NATURE OF THIS ACTION This is a proposed nationwide class action brought against Pfizer for violation of state and deceptive trade practice laws and other state laws arising from the marketing of the brand name drug Lipitor. Plaintiffs seek monetary damages and equitable restitution. In this action plaintiffs seek relief on behalf of a class of (1) women without previous medical diagnosis of heart disease or diabetes who have taken and paid out of pocket for Lipitor in the last four years and (2) those persons over 65 meeting the same standards and their payors.PLAINTIFFS1) Teamsters Plan of Trenton NJ2) Nancy Yost of Brooklyn NY, age 73 3) Robert Martin of Franklin Co. MA, age 654) Health Care For All, represented by Steven Rosenfield Defendant Pfizer is a Delaware Corp with principle place of business New York, NYSCOPE OF ACTIONThe District court of Massachusetts has jurisdiction of this class action, conferring federal jurisdiction of class action where, “as here”, any member of a class of plaintiffs is a citizen of a state different from any defendant and the aggregate amount of the monies in question exceeds five million dollars. Therefore they are basically representing clients throughout the United States.Plaintiffs are seeking class action trial by jury. It should be noted that relief is being sought for monetary damages only without consideration at this time of the many thousands of Lipitor users who have been medically damaged by this drug.Attorneys for this class action: Thomas M. SobelHagens, Berman, Sobel, Shapiro LLPOne Main St. 4th FloorCambridge MA 09142Steve BermanHagens, Berman, Sobel, Shapiro LLP1301 5th Ave, Suite 2900Seattle WA 98101Jeffrey L. KodroffSpector, Roseman & Kodroff, PC1818 Market St, Suite 2500Philadelphia PA 19103Richard KerschnerKerschner and Gartrell4910 Massachusetts Ave, NW Suite 215Washington DC 20016 Please note that I have received many hundreds of adverse reports from disgruntled statin users having suffered damage, some of which appear to be permanent. In far too many of these reports, the medical community seems completely unreceptive to any possible statin contribution to the patient’s complaints and in many cases make dire threats of ill-health to come if patients dare to deviate from doctor directives. Much of this lack of responsiveness of physicians is due to excessive “hype” from the “drug reps” or incomplete or inadequate written warnings to the prescribing physicians by the drug companies.Return to Statins and the Law Main Menu