Here’s the latest on the Vioxx debacle: HOUSTON – With Merck & Co. now 1-and-1 in state lawsuits over its Vioxx painkiller, the nation’s No. 5 drug maker may face higher stakes later this month in the first federal trial of charges that it knowingly rushed a potentially lethal drug to market to pocket billions…
Category Archives: Vioxx Lawsuits
“Accidental” Vioxx Deaths During Research Studies
Even though the number of Vioxx users that died during research studies was triple the number who died on placebos, researchers did not worry because many of the deaths were “accidental”: Researcher Saw No Vioxx Warning Sign; Merck Official Says Deaths Were From Variety of Causes By BONNIE PFISTER, The Associated Press ATLANTIC CITY –…
Breakdown of Vioxx suits
Here’s a breakdown of the Vioxx-related suits filed so far: More than 5,000 product liability lawsuits, nearly all of them personal injury lawsuits, have been filed against Merck. They include: _1,811 federal lawsuits consolidated for pretrial coordination to streamline steps common to the cases, such as document gathering and witness depositions. _More than 290 federal…
Class Action Could Mean Billion-Dollar Exposure for Merck
A new Law.com article (reprinted from the New Jersey Law Journal) is discussing how NJ’s Consumer Fraud Act will be bad news for Merck: After Merck & Co.’s devastating loss in Texas several weeks ago in the first Vioxx case to go to a jury, the nation’s eyes now turn to Atlantic City, where New…
Vioxx News
Motion to postpone Vioxx trial rejected Excerpt: Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck, in a motion filed last week, had urged Higbee to postpone the trial’s start for 45 days, citing a ‘’media blitz’’ after the first Vioxx trial. Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee, who is overseeing nearly 2,500 Vioxx product liability cases that have been…
Motion to postpone Vioxx trial rejected
Yahoo! News is reporting that: Beleaguered drug maker Merck & Co.’s request to postpone the next trial over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx was turned down Monday by the New Jersey judge presiding over the case. Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee, who is overseeing nearly 2,500 Vioxx product liability cases that have been filed in…
Merck considers limited settlements
Here’s the latest on Merck from the Seattle Times: Merck will consider settling a limited number of lawsuits over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, a spokesman said yesterday. The drug’s link to heart attacks and strokes has spawned thousands of lawsuits and last week’s $253 million jury verdict in Texas. Thursday morning, Merck said that as…
Merck May Face French Class Action
Looks like my own country is considering this as well, in light of the recent court decision taken in the USA: Paris – The possibility of a class action lawsuit in France against US pharmaceutical giant Merck, the manufacturer of defective arthritis painkiller Vioxx, is set to to be considered in September or October, a…
Vioxx Timeline
TheStreet.com has a great Vioxx Timeline (1998-2005) on its site. Here’s the beginning: November 1998: Merck submits an application to the Food and Drug Administration seeking approval for the Cox-2 inhibitor drug Vioxx as a treatment for osteoarthritis, on the basis of clinical trials involving 5,400 patients. Merck says rates of cardiovascular risk were “similar”…
Australians boosted by Vioxx verdict
Australians are elated by how well the first Vioxx trial turned out: “Hundreds of Australians pursuing legal action against an arthritis drug maker have been given a boost after hefty damages were awarded in the United States.” “Between 250,000 and 300,000 Australians were taking Vioxx when it was pulled off shelves last September after tests…