According to a Wall Street Journal article pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer has settled some of the lawsuits over two of its painkiller medicines, Celebrex and Bextra. Former users of the drugs allege that they caused heart attacks and strokes. Apparently, there have been an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 Celebrex and Bextra lawsuits filed against Pfizer, and the company has indicted that it is willing to pay an estimated $500 million to make the problem go away.

“Celebrex is the last drug in the Cox-2 inhibitor class that is still sold in the U.S. According to Pfizer, Celebrex had sales of $611 million for the first quarter of 2008. Vioxx and Bextra, other Cox-2 painkillers, were withdrawn from the market amid safety concerns.

A lawyer at one firm said he had been offered about $200,000 per client, on average, to settle his Bextra cases and an average of $40,000 to $50,000 per client to resolve Celebrex suits.”

It just blows my mind to think about how much money is being made and spent in the pharmaceutical industry. Pfizer thinks nothing of plunking down half a million dollars to deal with all of these lawsuits, and all these people who had heart attacks and strokes simply walk away with their money - and who knows what’s left of their health. Why didn’t we know that these painkillers could cause heart attacks and strokes before they were approved by the FDA? Why did they get approved by the FDA in the first place?

It makes you wonder what recently approved drug is going to cause the next round of heart attacks and strokes.