Pfizer Seeks to Delay Deposition of V.P. in Effexor Birth Defect Lawsuits

As Pfizer continues to face a growing number of Effexor lawsuits filed on behalf of children born with birth defects after exposure to the antidepressant during pregnancy, the drug maker is attempting to delay a deposition scheduled for one of it’s vice presidents.  

On Monday, Pfizer filed a motion to quash a deposition notice and subpoena (PDF) for Jay Bowsher, vice president of sales. The motion claims that plaintiffs gave the company and Bowsher little time to prepare for the deposition, and indicates that Bowsher has not worked on Effexor for years and travels extensively, meaning he will need significant time to prepare for the deposition.

Attorneys for families throughout the U.S. who are pursuing claims over birth defects caused by Effexor claim that Pfizer has known for months about the need for a deposition of a sales executive, and argue that requests to set a deposition date have repeatedly been ignored.

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Side effects of using the antidepressant during pregnancy may cause birth defects and malformations.

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According to the response (PDF) filed by plaintiffs, Pfizer has suggested that Bowsher can not be produced for the deposition for the next “several months”. The deposition was set for May 6, but plaintiffs indicate that they have agreed to postpone the date, but indicate that it should be set within the next 15 days.

“As the record related to this issue reflects, counsel for the [Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee] has been very patient with Pfizer’s counsel,” indicate plaintiffs in the response. “[Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee] counsel has been requesting a… witness on the topic of Effexor sales and marketing since December 2013. Now, over four (4) months later, Pfizer still has not produced a witness, and claims that it needs ‘several more months’ to do so. This is unacceptable.”

More than 50 birth defect lawsuits filed against Pfizer and its Wyeth subsidiary over Effexor are currently consolidated in the federal court system as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation. Cases filed throughout the country are centralized before U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for coordinated management during discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Although the Effexor MDL was established before Judge Rufe in August 2013, plaintiffs note in their response that no depositions have yet been taken, indicating that “Pfizer’s stonewalling needs to stop.”

All of the claims involved in the Effexor litigation involve similar allegations, claiming that Pfizer failed to adequately research the effects of their antidepressant when used by pregnant women. Several studies have suggested that side effects of Effexor during pregnancy may cause children to be born with serious health problems, including heart defects, malformations or abnormal developments.

Plaintiffs allege that there were signs of the potential pregnancy risks during clinical trials on animals and that there were indications that Effexor may affect children during pregnancy following post-marketing data as well. The lawsuits allege that Wyeth aggressively marketed the drug as safe for pregnant women, when no such assertion could be justified when looking at the scientific data.

It is expected that Judge Rufe will schedule a series of early trial dates in the MDL, known as “bellwether” cases, which are designed to help the parties gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that may be repeated throughout other cases. Following these bellwether trials, if Effexor settlement agreements or another resolution for the cases is not reached, Judge Rufe may begin remanding dozens of individual cases back to the U.S. District Courts where they were originally filed for separate trials.

1 Comments

  • BeeJune 3, 2016 at 3:29 pm

    I was put on this drug bout six years ago (mid-thirties) by my oncology center to counteract some of the highly probable side effects I was told I was going to experience due to being placed on the adjuvant breast cancer drug, Tamoxifen. It has been the biggest disaster of my life across the board, out of any drug I've ever been prescribed, including having to go thru chemotherapy and take opiates[Show More]I was put on this drug bout six years ago (mid-thirties) by my oncology center to counteract some of the highly probable side effects I was told I was going to experience due to being placed on the adjuvant breast cancer drug, Tamoxifen. It has been the biggest disaster of my life across the board, out of any drug I've ever been prescribed, including having to go thru chemotherapy and take opiates. And of course it is the one drug that every doctor handed the prescription over or pushed to up the dosage with ease (regardless of my claims that it wasn't doing anything-and definitely not working for the night sweats, which quadrupled?!) it is also the prescription that no drug store had any problem filling-especially when I'd have to pay over three hundred dollars for a month supply since I initially did not have prescription insurance coverage, or when my insurance just didn't cover it when I did have script coverage...) I began tapering off this drug in November. It is now June and I am off it completely for nearly a month and a half. The Effexor withdrawal (or "discontinuation"- as the psych community and Pfizer does not like it being called "withdrawal") has been a living barely-breathing devastating waking nightmare. I cannot believe this drug was ever aloud to market. It is crime by the scientists who created it, the company that funded it, the reps that pushed it on medical institutions and the government that approved it. I don't think I will ever be the same person mental or physically and I know it is due to this drug. I had enuf to deal with trying to come back from a breast cancer diagnosis with a good two years lost to four surgeries and chemo, and the five year Tamoxifen plan-all already with their slew of life altering/inhibiting side effects. The anger is real.

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