PITTSBURGH (AP) — The fathers of two people killed in a
western Pennsylvania
murder-suicide say a smoking cessation drug is to blame.
Thirty-four-year-old Sean Wain fatally shot his 33-year-old
wife, Natalie, before shooting himself in Economy, Beaver County,
in May 2009. A lawsuit filed by their fathers on behalf of the couple’s four
surviving children says Sean Wain’s hostility and rage was prompted by the drug
Chantix, marketed by Pfizer Inc.
The drug company did not immediately comment on the lawsuit
filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.
But a web site for the drug warns it can cause “hostility, agitation,
depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions” in some people.
The lawsuit says New York-based Pfizer didn’t sufficiently
warn consumers until after the murder-suicide, even though those side effects
were allegedly revealed during clinical trials of the drug.
