Pfizer Faces First Trial of Rezulin Claims

Pfizer Inc., the world’s No.2 drug maker, faces the first trial this week of claims that its now-withdrawn Rezulin diabetes drug caused fatal liver damage in some users.

Jurors in state court in Jackson, Miss., are scheduled to hear opening statements Tuesday in a suit claiming Rezulin destroyed college professor Orville Cunningham’s liver, forcing him to get a transplant that ultimately caused his 1999 death.

The case is one of more than 4,000 filed across the U.S. against Pfizer and its Warner-Lambert Co. unit accusing the drug maker of downplaying the health risks of Rezulin, designed to help adult diabetics regulate their insulin. Warner-Lambert officials pulled the drug off the market last year after it was blamed for at least 63 deaths.

Pfizer, which bought Warner-Lambert for $84 billion last year, contends that the drug was safe for most users and the company adequately warned consumers about its potential health risks.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers and drug-industry analysts are watching the case to gauge the strength of claims Warner-Lambert knew that patients who took Rezulin during clinical studies suffered liver damage even as the company assured the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the risk of such problems was low.

Pfizer’s shares fell 54 cents to close at $42.20 on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.