On Thursday, a class action was filed in the Southern District of New York. The case was filed by named plaintiff Shannon Webb against Pfizer Inc. and concerns merchantability of the chemical Varenicline, a primary ingredient in the smoking cessation product Chantix.
Chantix is treatment used as part of a smoking cessation program for smokers who are addicted to nicotine. Chantix does not contain nicotine, the complaint said, but does contain the chemical varenicline tartrate salt, which is a partial nicotine agonist.
However, very few chemicals remain pure when mass-procduced. The plaintiffs accuse the defendant of selling varenicline tartrate salt that was tainted with n-nitroso-varenicline, which is a known human carcinogen, and two nitrosamines, n-nitrosdimethylamine (“NDMA”) and n-notriosodiethylamine (“NDEA”). Pfizer has since recalled Chantix products due to this contamination, the complaint said.
The plaintiffs accuse Pfizer of deliberately selling a non-merchantable product and failing to institute quality protocols to prevent this product from being released to the general public.
Plaintiffs are suing from breach of express warranties, breach of implied warranties, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and omission, violation of state consumer protection laws, unjust enrichment, and negligence. Plaintiffs are represented by the Law Offices of Peter Samberg, and Honik LLC.
