In November the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning on Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug Chantix after reports that many people taking the drug have experienced depression, suicidal thoughts and behavior - often times without the presence or history of any mental illness or psychiatric conditions. At the time of the warning there were 55 suicides that had been reported by people taking Chantix in the U.S. (there have been similar reports in Europe where the drug is marketed as Champix). The FDA is expected to take several months in a safety review of the drug.

In the meantime there is concern that the warnings that have been issued might not reach those people who are taking the drug or those people that are considering trying Chantix. When the FDA issues these types warnings, there is no guarantee that those taking the drug will hear about it.

The side effects that are mentioned on both the TV commercials for Chantix and on Pfizer’s website make no mention of the suicidal ideation and depression that have prompted the warnings. Hopefully prescribing doctors will let their patients know about the potential risks of Chantix.

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Thank you to all of our friends and clients that have supported our firm for the past 33 years with your trust in us, words of encouragement and friendship. The legal services market has changed much over the years and is ever changing today. There is more information available than ever before about the firm that you are hiring. And that’s a good thing.

One thing that has not changed is our commitment to you to provide the highest level of legal services. That is our pledge now and that has been our pledge since we started. We have a network of legal and financial professionals that meet and exceed your expectations for help with your legal problems.

We are very excited about our continuing work in the area of false claims as we have pursued a number of cases currently in suit and several more that will be filed in the immediate future. This is a very rewarding area of the law in helping our government recovery money corporations are stealing from all of us as taxpayers by billing for services not being performed, by overcharging, by lying about meeting specifications, by tax fraud and other areas of fraud . Individuals that blow the whistle on fraud on the government can share in the recovery gained by the government.

The vast majority of fraudulent activity occurs by manufacturers of health care products which include drugs and medical devices. Last fiscal year, the Department of Justice recovered 2.1 billion dollars from health care defrauders and 1.5 billion of this came from pharmaceutical and device manufacturers. For more detailed information on these claims, visit our website at false-claims-act.com.

In addition to our work in false claims, we continue to be active in our commercial practice representing small companies and entrepreneurs with their business issues and litigation. Product liability has always been a significant part of our practice and it remains so as this litigation has been very effective in holding corporations accountable for preventable injuries through safer products. Major catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases are also a specialty we take great pride in.

Whatever the legal problem, we will always take your call and if we can’t help you do our best to help you get to the right place. You can count on it.

Happy New Year. We are thankful for our great country, for our freedoms, for our constitution, for the right to a lawyer, for the right to a jury trial and for freedom of worship. We will continue to fight to keep these rights—you can count on it.

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A Nevada jury has handed down stiff penalties to the the pharmaceutical company Wyeth in what could be the start of a large-scale redress for the company’s hormone replacement drugs:

All the lawsuits involve the drugs Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin. The drugs are prescribed to women to ease symptoms of menopause.

This decision should be welcome to the women and their families who were put at risk by these drugs. As it now stands Wyeth will have to pay large damages to the plaintiffs in the case:

“These are very large numbers for compensatory damages,” said Howard Erichson, a law professor at Seton Hall University. “It has to be troubling for Wyeth because dollar figures like these suggest the jury entirely accepted the plaintiff’s version of the story…

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Of all of our friends at Roosevelt, Bruce was clean.  He was well liked, a great athlete and a wonderful friend.  I saw Bruce several months ago.  He looked great and he was with his dad and brother.  What a great family.

When I run into people like Bruce I think about what a great wonderful world this is.  Bruce and I are friends and we will be so forever-not necessarily close to share our secrets and pain.  But close to have shared some wonderful memories and laughs and experiences that are so honest and real and can never be taken away.

You see, for Bruce and I, we can look at each other and laugh and smile and Bruce will say, “Christensen, you little ……” and I will say “Nelson!!!!! (That’s a Courtney phrase).

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I applaud Jim Ramstad for his service.  It was time to leave.  These are not the best of times in government as if there would ever be a good time for good citizens.   I totally disagree with Jim on the war.  I respect him as a man with a good heart and  a different political philosophy.  He is someone that one could agree to disagree with that did not have a secret agenda like many (most) politicians.

Jim served too long but had the good sense to leave.  We should draft our representatives.  Why would we want to elect anyone that wanted the job?  Think about it.

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