Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The family of musician Carter Albrecht has filed a lawsuit in a Dallas federal court against Chantix manufacturer Pfizer Inc. Ken and Judy Albrecht allege that the drug manufacturer is responsible for the musician’s death in 2007 because it marketed Chantix, which Carter had been taking at the time of his death, while knowing it to be unsafe.

Carter, who played keyboard and guitar for Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians, was shot and killed by his girlfriend’s neighbor in the predawn hours of September 3, 2007. According to Ryann Rathbone, Albrecht’s girlfriend at the time, the two had spent the evening at a Dallas bar before going back to Rathbone’s home, where they both took their Chantix doses. Shortly afterward, Albrecht began speaking incoherently and acting violently, hitting Rathbone several times.

Rathbone ran out of the house and Albrecht pursued her. She then ran back into the house, closed the door, and locked Albrecht outside, whereupon he began pounding on the door and yelling. He then entered the neighbor’s backyard and began beating on his back door and shouting. Alarmed by the commotion, the neighbor fired what he said he intended to be a warning shot through the front door. The bullet hit Albrecht in the head, killing him instantly.

Both Rathbone and Albrecht’s family and acquaintances said that his behavior on that fatal night was uncharacteristic. Rathbone says that Albrecht’s behavior became increasingly erratic once he started taking Chantix. Autopsy results showed that Albrecht’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal driving limit in Texas, yet those who knew him say that his behavior on September 3 was abnormal, even after drinking heavily.

Chantix first became available by prescription in 2006. Awareness of the drug’s potential to cause negative neuropsychiatric events was not well documented at the time of Albrecht’s death. Just a couple of weeks after the deadly incident, a CBS affiliate in Dallas ran a story about Albrecht’s strange behavior called Chantix: Miracle Drug or Dangerous Problem? Two months later, the Food and Drug Adminstration issued an early communication about an ongoing safety review of Chantix, alerting the public that Chantix may be linked to changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts and actions, and other side effects.

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