Legal case: Liver Failure caused by Pfizer’s antibiotic Zithromax 

Limassol District court

Pfizer Italy, a subsidiary of the American Pfizer inc, is facing a defective product lawsuit in Cyprus.

The claim concerns the defectiveness of the well known and very popular among pediatricians, antibiotic Zithromax. Zithromax was prescribed to a 16-year-old, without any precondition, who after a 3-day course of Zithromax, has suffered from complete liver failure, and was in immediate need of liver transplant to save his life. He was immediately transferred by air ambulance to England, where he luckily found a matching donor just in time.

The consequences of this tragic experience on his life are enormous and his life is still in danger, as being in a constant risk of infection which might lead to a rejection of the transplant; and as being in constant need of care and protection. His life and his dreams have completely changed.

This is not the only serious liver failure caused by Zithromax. There is a series of articles and publications from distinguished doctors and researchers documenting liver failure caused by Zithromax as back as 1996. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the risks of liver failure were known, there was no labeling warning of the risks.

Pfizer has modified Zithromax’s label in 2011 to include life threatening liver failure as a possible side effect. Before the correction, there was only a simple reference to liver disorder without warning about the seriousness of the disorder which might lead to total liver failure resulting even to death. The Plaintiff’s lawyers in Cyprus consider this modification to the labeling as evidence of the product’s defectiveness prior to 2011 (when the incident took place), in accordance with the EC European Directive on defective product, that imposes strict liability to manufacturers.

This is not the first case against Phizer, but it is very keen to reach out of court settlements, paying millions in damages. This is one of the very few cases to actually reach the court.

The hearing of the case is due to start on the 10/3/2016 in the District Court of Limassol.

 

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