PITTSBURGH, May 31 (UPI) -- A lawsuit claims a murder-suicide in Pennsylvania was triggered by Chantix, a stop-smoking drug being taken by a husband who killed his wife and then himself.
In May 2009 construction contractor Sean M. Wain, 34, shot and killed his wife Natalie, 33, and then turned his shotgun on himself at their Economy home.
Now a federal lawsuit filed by the deceased couple's estate says the cancer he was suffering from or reported marital problems didn't precipitate Wain's uncharacteristic violence but instead blames Pfizer Inc.'s stop-smoking drug Chantix, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday.
The suit is one of almost 1,500 across the country alleging Chantix's side effects can cause "serious injury and death" without warning, the newspaper said.
Filed in U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania, the suit claims Wain, a smoker, received a doctor's prescription for Chantix in October 2007.
"Weird" dreams prompted Wain to discontinue using the drug for a time, but he resumed taking it in May 2009, an attorney representing the estate said.
The lawsuit alleges Chantix causes neuropsychiatric damage that can lead to "behavioral changes, depression, aggression, agitation, hostility, rage, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and, in many instances, successful suicide."
Pfizer had responded by defending Chantix.
"The company is continuing to study the medicine in certain populations and will vigorously defend it in the litigation," the company said.
