At the time that Zoloft was introduced to the marketplace, Pfizer knew that there was some risk of increased suicidal thoughts, gestures, and attempts as a result of taking the drug. However, Pfizer tried to downplay this risk for as long as possible, for example, writing a paper for the FDA in 1996 which purported to show that there was no increase in suicides or suicide attempts among children taking Zoloft. However, the way Pfizer analyzed the data was faulty; upon further review, it was found that even using Pfizer’s own numbers, children taking Zoloft were up to four times more likely to attempt suicide. Even after the FDA, in 2004, asked for increased warnings and held hearings specifically to deal with the question of increased suicidality when using Zoloft and other SSRIs, Pfizer opposed the addition of a black box warning, the highest level of warning given by the FDA. Pfizer disingenuously argued that they were concerned that someone seeing that warning would not get treatment for their mental illness and that their stance had nothing to do with the economic impact of having a black box warning associated with the drug. Pfizer has continued to show a lack of concern for the well-being of the patients who use Zoloft through these actions. Your attorney should be able to use this to bolster your case.

Another interesting issue is the fact that it took well over a decade for the FDA to require more stringent warnings on the packaging of SSRIs, including Zoloft. Throughout the 1990s, a series of studies showed over and over that Zoloft and other SSRIs could be directly linked to an increase in suicidal thought, gestures, attempts, and completed suicides. The FDA did not do anything substantive about this issue until March of 2004 when it then asked the various drug companies, including Pfizer, to include more stringent warnings. Suing the FDA is a difficult concept, but this may be the fact situation where some type of class action is appropriate.

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