A Madison County woman has filed a defective product lawsuit that alleges the Pfizer product, Bextra, was responsible for a heart attack she suffered. On April 2, Rita Fohne of Lebanon, Illinois filed a lawsuit seeking damages for personal injuries and economic hardships she allegedly suffered after taking the prescription medication Bextra. Fohne secured representation by Robert Rowland and Aaron Dickey of the Edwardsville firm of Goldenberg Heller Antognoli Rowland Short & Gori, P.C. after suffering a heart attack and cardiovascular injuries she claimed were directly caused by Bextra.

Similar to Vioxx and Celebrex, Bextra is a Cox-2 inhibitor used to relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis. Bextra was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November, 16, 2001, but was voluntarily removed from the market by Pfizer in 2005 in response to concerns of increased risk of cardiovascular events (including heart attack and stroke).

Fohne claims she had been taking Bextra for more than six months prior to her heart attack. The lawsuit alleges that the drug sold to Fohne was defective and potentially harmful. As a result, the lawsuit further alleges, Fohne was subjected to increased risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular events that effectively outweighed the potential benefit of the drug. In addition, she claims Pfizer did not adequately test its product, sending it to market without proper warnings and ignoring existing data suggesting the drug possessed serious, life-threatening side effects.

Fohne is seeking restitution in excess of $250,000.