Pfizer Urges Panel Not to Combine Chantix Contamination Suits

Chantix maker Pfizer Inc. urged the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation not to combine consumer suits stemming from its recall of the smoking cessation drug over possible carcinogen contamination.

Other efforts to streamline the litigation should play out first, Pfizer said in a filing Thursday.

And an MDL isn’t needed for efficiency because there are only 11 pending lawsuits, just a few plaintiffs’ law firms, and Pfizer is the only defendant, the company said.

Insurers and consumers allege they bought Chantix that was rendered worthless by elevated levels of a nitrosamine known as N-nitroso-varenicline. Monmouth County, N.J., which paid ...