.jpg)
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - New Jersey's Monmouth County has hired private lawyers to file a class action lawsuit against Pfizer over Chantix, a drug that helps smokers quit.
David Magagna of Levin Sedran & Berman in Philadelphia is representing the county, along with two colleagues at the firm and New Jersey lawyer Michael Fitzgerald. The suit claims Chantix is not of the quality advertised by Pfizer.
Because of this, Monmouth County, as a third-party payor for smokers hoping Chantix helps, says it has overpaid for the drug. The suit says the Food and Drug Administration and other global health organizations have determined that Chantix contains dangerous levels of nitrosamine, a probable human carcinogen.
Pfizer recalled Chantix last year.
"Plaintiff paid for (varenicline-containing drugs) that were illegally and willfully introduced into the market by Defendant, which caused them and hundreds of other TPPs paying for or reimbursing prescriptions for these VCDs to sustain substantial economic damages," the suit says.
"Defendant’s VCDs were not fit for their ordinary use and Defendant has been unjustly enriched through the sale of these knowingly adulterated and misbranded drugs. Defendant’s conduct, as detailed in this Complaint, also constitutes actionable common law fraud, consumer fraud, and violates state and federal law."