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Pfizer Pays $400 Million to Settle Off-Label Shareholder Lawsuit

February 3, 2015

Pfizer has agreed to pay $400 million to shareholders to settle a class action lawsuit over the off-label promotion of several of its drugs.

The complaint, first filed in 2010, accused the company of pushing its Bextra (valdecoxib) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, Geodon (ziprasidone HCl) antipsychotic, Zyvox (linezolid) antibiotic and Lyrica (pregabalin) epilepsy treatment for conditions the drugs were not approved to treat.

Shareholders charged that Pfizer deceived them about the legality of its marketing practices between 2006 and 2009, thus artificially inflating its stock. A $2.3 billion fine to the U.S. government in 2009 for criminal and civil violations involving off-label promotion reduced the company’s market capitalization by $12 billion in a single day.

In a SEC filing, Pfizer says it has reached an agreement in principle to settle the securities class action pending against it in federal district court in southern New York. The settlement is subject to court approval and allows the company to continue to deny any wrongdoing in the case.

The jury trial had been scheduled to begin later this month. — Bryan Koenig