It is known fact that cockroaches need only a few airborne molecules of sugar to detect its location in a kitchen from relatively great distances - even several feet - from its source. Once the sugar pile is pinpointed, a whole swarm of cockroaches soon starts a feeding frenzy while simultaneously spreading their disease-borne feces over the eating surfaces of various culinary utensils.
Mass tort attorneys are like cockroaches. When they get a whiff of money, they swarm over a once-wealthy defendant and feed their gluttonous souls until the carcass of that unfortunate defendant is sucked dry. At the same time they spread their filth, they efficiently contaminate entire industries and saddle them with litigation payout awards that hardly ever trickle down to the individual plaintiffs. The fact is, these lawyers mainly benefit the mass of fellow insect-litigators. Actual victims are often forgotten as soon as the multitude of hourly fees and various other expenses are extracted from the settlement. A case in point of this mass tort madness is the present situation with Pfizer's (PFE) Celebrex.
Pfizer is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies with a turnover in 2007 of 48.4 billion dollars of which Celebrex contributed 2.29 billion dollars. Pfizer earned a net profit of 8.1 billion dollars (excluding special reserves for litigation). At the same time, it carried cash and short-term investments of over 25.5 billion dollars on its balance sheet.
It is this mass of money that attracts the swarm of mass tort lawyers eager to fill their feed on any dubious claims arising from the use of Pfizer’s wide range of pharmaceutical products including Celebrex.
When the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Prevention halted their trails investigating Celebrex’s ability to prevent colorectal cancer, the mass tort attorneys started their feeding frenzy. Suddenly, legal advertisements soliciting clients appeared whenever someone attempted to do a Web search on Celebrex. These advertisements crowed about a particular law firm’s experience with class action lawsuits, including Celebrex.
Some ads even encouraged potential clients to click on their site to view the list of successful actions they had against Pfizer’s Celebrex. However, if one bothered clicking onto the featured screen, as I did, no cases were found. That’s right. Some of these attorneys were so greedy to snare claimants they were brazenly loose with the truth, betting that potential class-action members would not bother to click just one more time.
It also appears that these attorneys were too obtuse to read and comprehend the National Cancer Institute’s entire press release. If they had, they would appreciate how weak their potential causes of actions against Pfizer actually are. For example, the dosages in the group of patients that experienced a significant two-fold increase in cardiac events were never in the range of dosages recommended for Celebrex. The only approved dosage that approached the 400 mg to 800mg strengths that were followed in this study was a maximum 400 mg/day, indicated only for intermittent menstrual cramps or acute pain (up to 200 mg. twice a day as needed). Mind you, it was for pain, lasting hours to days-- not for three years of daily dosages of 400 mg. That’s right. It took three years before cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction (heart attack) increased beyond the rate of the control group.
Also, the attorneys ignored relative risk. The study originally centered around patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, a condition that progresses to close to a 100% incidence of cancerous polyps by the time a patient with this syndrome reaches his fiftieth birthday. It was initially found that Celebrex decreased the incidence of cancerous polyps, presumably as a result of its anti-inflammatory properties. When faced with the certainty of colon cancer (that usually necessitates a colectomy or removal of the colon as a preventive measure), a two-fold risk of some cardiac event pales in comparison.
The most important overlooked fact is that there have been a multitude of longitudinal studies of Celebrex that have demonstrated no significant increase in cardiovascular events. It is only in this one singular study, using a super-normal dose of 400 - 800 mg. of Celebrex daily for three years, that has produced this result.
Ultimately, some attorney may use the argument that his client needed a three-year continuous daily dose of 400 - 800 mg. of Celebrex. Quite frankly, I cannot think of any condition that could reproduce the sensation of a continuous three-year menstrual cramp. Except, perhaps, being married to a mass tort attorney.
Disclosure: Author has a long position in PFE
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