Celebrex Trial Is Delayed

The first trial over claims that Pfizer Inc.’s painkiller Celebrex causes strokes, set to start today in an Alabama state court, was postponed to give lawyers more time to gather information about the drug.

A federal judge in San Francisco, where Pfizer faces more than 1,500 lawsuits over its Celebrex and Bextra painkillers, requested the delay, Paul Sizemore, an attorney for the Alabama plaintiff, said Monday. The trial may be delayed until early next year to allow Pfizer and plaintiffs to work out a schedule for cases in federal and state courts, he said.

Celebrex and Bextra are so-called Cox-2 painkillers, a class of medicines that includes Merck & Co.’s Vioxx pill. They work by blocking production of an enzyme that causes pain and swelling. Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004 after studies linked it to heart attacks in longer-term users. Celebrex is still on the market, with a label warning that it may increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

“I don’t think we’re going to see 11,500 [cases] as in the Vioxx litigation, but probably about half that number” of Celebrex lawsuits, said Sizemore, who is a member of a steering committee of lawyers for the drug’s users.

Bryant Haskins, a spokesman for New York-based Pfizer, said the company had agreed to the delay.

In the Alabama case, Rosie Ware blames Celebrex for her stroke in February 2005. Pfizer, which spent $117 million to promote Celebrex in the U.S. in 2004, has said it hasn’t withdrawn the drug because the benefits outweigh the risks. The company resumed marketing Celebrex in April, a year after U.S. regulators asked for a suspension.

Pfizer withdrew Bextra in April 2005, when it was tied to a potentially fatal skin condition.

Shares of Pfizer, the world’s biggest drug maker, fell 25 cents to $23.94 on Monday.