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Pfizer Faces First Trial on Neurontin Suicide Claim (Update1) 

Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, goes to trial next week on claims its epilepsy medication Neurontin increases the risk of suicide, in a case the judge called “very tough” for the plaintiffs to win. . . .

Pfizer hired William Ohlemeyer, a former associate general counsel for cigarette maker Altria Group Inc., to defend it in the case, Lanier said. Loder, the company spokesman, declined to comment on who will be the company’s lead defense lawyer, or to say exactly how many Neurontin claims Pfizer faces.

Ohlemeyer, from the New York office of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, along with Mark Cheffo, a mass-tort defense specialist from New York’s Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, are listed as lawyers for the drugmaker on Pfizer’s court filings.

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