The court ruled that the plaintiffs suing Pfizer failed to present reliable scientific evidence necessary to prove that Celebrex can cause heart attacks and strokes at 200mg daily dosage.
Pfizer said that the ruling follows a similar decision in November 2007 by the US District Court of Northern California in the Celebrex multi-district federal litigation. Pfizer added that, together, the two decisions render certain expert opinions inadmissible, which the company believes could result in the dismissal of many Celebrex cases. The majority of the Celebrex cases are pending in the two courts that issued the decisions.
Allen Waxman, Pfizer’s general counsel, said: “We are pleased with Justice Shirley Kornreich’s decision which recognizes the lack of any credible evidence linking Celebrex, at its most common dosage form, with heart attacks or strokes. We believe that these rulings will greatly limit the scope of this litigation, and we intend to continue to vigorously defend the cases against us.”