Class Action Suit Says Pfizer’s Zoloft as Effective as Sugar Pill

SAN FRANCISCO - A California woman has filed a federal class action against Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), accusing the drug maker of deceptively marketing Zoloft as an effective treatment for depression while knowing that the drug is virtually indistinguishable from a sugar pill.

On Jan. 30, Laura A. Plumlee filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of herself and consumers nationwide.

The suit says early clinical trials indicated Zoloft lacked efficacy and that four of the six clinical trials submitted to the Food and Drug Administration showed that the drug was …