Pfizer Inc. (PFE) failed to block class- action status for investors who sued the world’s biggest drugmaker over claims it misled them about the prospects of two chronic pain-relief drugs, Celebrex and Bextra. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in New York, who is presiding over a series of investor suits filed in 2004, yesterday ruled that the main class of plaintiffs will be those who purchased stock from Oct. 31, 2000, to Oct. 19, 2005. The stockholders claimed New York-based Pfizer and its top officers deliberately hid or misrepresented the results of studies that suggested the drugs may have adverse cardiovascular effects.
