A class action has been filed against Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE), a New York based pharmaceutical company, and certain of its officers and directors by stockholders who purchased the company’s common stock between November 1, 2004 and December 16, 2004. The action claims that the defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market over this time period, thereby artificially inflating the price of the company’s securities. The stockholders seek to recover compensatory damages for the loss of value of their stock.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that defendants misrepresented and omitted material facts about the safety and marketability of Pfizer's Celebrex and Bextra products and that they were aware of strong indications that Celebrex and Bextra posed serious and undisclosed health risks to the drug’s consumers, that the undisclosed health risks would hinder their marketability, and that the potential financial liability Pfizer would face due to these drugs’ harms posed a serious financial threat to the Company.
On November 4, 2004, the Calgary Herald reported that "Celebrex, a popular pain drug touted as the safe alternative after Vioxx was pulled from drugstore shelves, is suspected of causing at least 14 deaths and numerous heart and brain side effects." Then, on November 10, 2004, the New York Times revealed a study finding that "[t]he incidence of heart attacks and strokes among patients given Pfizer's painkiller Bextra was more than double that of those given placebos." This announcement caused Pfizer's share price to drop 8% over the next eight days.