Here’s some good news for smokers seeking to kick the habit — and bad news for plaintiff lawyers hoping to use junk science to hit the lawsuit lottery.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released two studies that strongly indicate that smoking cessation drug Chantix is no more likely to cause adverse side effects than other accepted nicotine replacement therapies.
Plaintiff lawyers who jumped the gun once again and filed numerous lawsuits against Pfizer, the maker of the prescription drug, will undoubtedly be hoping the media ignores this story. We’re hoping they don’t, and we’ve have made it the focus of our recent radio commentary broadcast across the country.
The two studies, one conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the other by the Department of Defense, found no evidence of an increase in hospitalizations for psychiatric reasons in Chantix users compared to nicotine patch users.
The Bloomberg news service reports that:
“The Veterans Affairs study included 14,131 Chantix users and an equal number of nicotine replacement therapy users. Sixteen Chantix-treated patients were hospitalized for psychiatric reasons compared to 21 in the replacement therapy group.
The Pentagon studied 11,978 Chantix users and an equal number of replacement therapy patients. Patients on Chantix were hospitalized 18 times for psychiatric reasons compared to 16 times among replacement therapy patients.”
Undoubtedly, the plaintiffs’ bar will produce their own study or studies to try to mislead the media, the courts and juries, but the FDA is the only objective party whose results can and should be trusted.
The problem with America’s legal system is that it allows plaintiff lawyers to file unfounded lawsuits against medical providers and pharmaceutical companies even when there’s no scientific evidence to support them. These lawyers believe they can mislead juries with emotional stories based on highly speculative and unproven theories.
Judges must now do their job and refuse to let these lawsuits move forward. Otherwise, manufacturers and health care providers face years of expensive litigation with the possibility of a massive verdict. That would potentially rob Americans of safe and effective medical treatment and strike yet another blow to the nation’s struggling economy.
