Vioxx News

Merck in Double Legal Setback over Vioxx
MSNBC
August 17, 2006

Merck suffered back-to-back blows on Thursday, as two losses in court renewed concerns about litigation over the US drugmaker's withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

The company was ordered to pay $51 million in damages for a 62-year-old man's heart attack after being found negligent. It was the first federal trial loss in the mass litigation over Vioxx and claims that it causes heart attacks and strokes. A jury in federal court in New Orleans awarded the damages to Gerald Barnett, a retired FBI officer, who claimed that a failure to warn of Vioxx's risks led to his 2002 heart attack.

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Study: Even Short-Term Vioxx Use Carries Heart Attack Risk for Elderly
CNN
May 3, 2006

A lawyer said Wednesday that more lawsuits may be brought against the maker of the painkiller Vioxx in light of a new study suggesting that the risk of a heart attack in elderly users of Vioxx occurs sooner after starting the medication than previously thought.

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Jury Award Is Big Disappointment for Merck
The New York Times
April 21, 2006

A state court jury in south Texas dealt Merck another setback today, awarding $32 million in damages to the family of Leonel Garza, a 71-year-old Texan who died of a heart attack in 2001 after briefly taking the painkiller Vioxx.

Texas laws that cap punitive damages will automatically reduce the award to $7.75 million. Still, the verdict is a major disappointment for Merck, since Mr. Garza had a long history of heart disease, including a previous heart attack, and took Vioxx for less than a month before he died.

Merck has now lost three of the five lawsuits to reach juries.

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Jury Awards $4.5 Million in Vioxx Verdict Against Merck
Reuters
April 5, 2006

Jurors in Merck & Co.'s Vioxx trial awarded $4.5 million on Wednesday to a 77-year-old New Jersey man after finding the painkiller contributed to his heart attack, casting doubts on the strategy Merck will use in thousands of other suits over the drug.

The jury also found that the drug company failed to provide warning of increased cardiovascular risk for plaintiffs John McDarby and Thomas Cona, both of whom blamed Vioxx for their heart attacks. The drug did not contribute to Cona's heart attack, the jury found.

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Long-Term Vioxx Use Seen as Next Trial Hurdle
MSNBC/Newsweek
February 21, 2006

Merck & Co. Inc.'s victory in the first federal case over its recalled painkiller Vioxx may be short-lived, as investors look to bigger legal hurdles ahead, analysts said.

A far more significant test of Merck's standing will come when cases of long-term Vioxx users come to trial, given that Vioxx's heart attack and stroke risks are shown to kick in after 18 months. The first of those cases is expected to start in New Jersey later this month, according to analysts.

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After Vioxx Victory, Merck Faces Bigger Legal Test
MarketWatch
February 21, 2006

Merck & Co., following a significant but unsurprising court victory Friday, faces a more difficult challenge of its Vioxx legal defense strategy next week when a trial involving long-term use of its pulled painkilled begins in Atlantic City.

So far, the Vioxx trials that have gone before a jury involved short-term users of the drug, or those who have used Vioxx for less than 18 months, with Merck losing the first one but winning two. Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in 2004 after a study showed the former blockbuster drug elevated the risk of heart attack and stroke in people taking the drug for at least 18 months.

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Merck Wins Retrial of Federal Vioxx Lawsuit
MSNBC
February 18, 2006

Merck won an important victory on Friday when a jury in New Orleans found the US drugmaker and its withdrawn painkiller, Vioxx, were not liable for a man's heart attack and death.

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Merck Executive Testifies in Vioxx Trial
Houston Chronicle
February 15, 2006

Merck & Co. included the idea that its painkiller Vioxx might increase the risk of heart attacks in the first draft of a paper submitted to a top medical journal, but dropped it because a reviewer found the section "awkward," a company executive testified.

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Legal Strategy for Vioxx to Test Merck
Washington Post
January 27, 2006

Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. vowed to fight every claim filed by plaintiffs who say they were injured by the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. Now, with 11 cases slated for trial in the next five months, the viability of the company's scorched-earth strategy is likely to become clear.

More than 9,200 lawsuits involving 18,250 plaintiff groups have been filed against Merck, which pulled Vioxx off the market in September 2004. Merck took the action because of a study that showed the drug was associated with increased risk of heart attacks and strokes after 18 months of use. So far Merck's courtroom record is mixed—one win, one loss and one hung jury, all in cases involving relatively short-term use of the pain drug.

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Divided Vioxx Jury Told to Keep Trying
CNN
December 10, 2005

Jurors considering whether Vioxx contributed to a man's death told the judge Saturday they could not reach a unanimous verdict, but the judge told them to keep trying.

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Merck Facing First Federal Vioxx Trial
ABC News
November 5, 2005

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 in profits.

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Merck Braces for More Vioxx Pain
CNN
October 31, 2005

Lawyers were set to deliver closing arguments Monday in the second trial over Merck & Co Inc.'s painkiller Vioxx, a case seen as key in determining thousands of other pending lawsuits filed by users of the drug.

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Merck Rests Its Defense in Vioxx Trial
CBS News
October 26, 2005

Merck & Co. rested its defense Wednesday in a high-stakes Vioxx product liability trial—and none too soon for jurors, who apparently have been pondering how to wind down from the rigors of the seven-week trial.

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Judge Strikes Vioxx Testimony
Associated Press
October 8, 2005

The judge in the second Vioxx product-liability trial delivered a stunning blow to Merck & Co. on Friday when she barred the testimony of its first defense witness from the record.

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Vioxx Judge Reprimands Merck Lawyer
Associated Press
September 15, 2005

The judge hearing a product liability suit against Merck & Co., the manufacturer of painkiller Vioxx, reprimanded the drug maker's lead lawyer Thursday for violating pretrial instructions barring comments about lawyers in front of the jury.

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2nd Trial on Vioxx Begins Monday
Chicago Tribune
September 10, 2005

With the second trial over its pain pill Vioxx set to begin Monday in a New Jersey state court, Merck & Co. Friday assured investors the drug giant has no plans to reach a global settlement.

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Maker of Vioxx Reports Progress of Suits
The New York Times
August 26, 2005

With the number of Vioxx-related lawsuits soaring, the drug maker Merck may consider offering settlements to plaintiffs in a few cases, the company's general counsel suggested yesterday.

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Documents: Merck Tried Reducing Vioxx Risk
Associated Press
August 22, 2005

Merck & Co. sought patent protection for a way to reduce cardiovascular problems in Cox-2 inhibitors, the class of drugs that includes Vioxx, as early as 1998—a year before the popular painkiller was introduced, newly disclosed documents show.

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Merck Faces More Challenges in Next Round
Associated Press
August 21, 2005

Drug-maker Merck & Co.'s blistering defeat in the nation's first Vioxx trial was only round one in a series of expected court battles in coming months, many of them involving plaintiffs who have some major advantages.

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David Graham on the Vioxx Verdict
Forbes
August 19, 2005

No single person has come to more represent the big questions about drug safety that emerged following the withdrawal of Merck's painkiller Vioxx than the Food and Drug Administration's David Graham.

And now that a Texas jury has awarded the widow of one Vioxx patient $253 million, Graham, who works in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, is more critical than ever. Of the drug, and his employer, for whom he doesn't speak.

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Jury: Merck Negligent
CNN
August 19, 2005

Merck has been held liable by a Texas jury in the first lawsuit involving its former blockbuster drug Vioxx, in a case that could have a profound effect on thousands of other cases filed against the company.

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Jurors in the Vioxx Trial Hear Closing Arguments
The New York Times
August 17, 2005

The lawyer for survivors of a man who died after taking Vioxx told a Texas jury in his closing argument on Wednesday that Merck, the drug's maker, had lied to the public about the medicine's dangers and should be punished with a very large damage award.

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At Midpoint of Vioxx Trial, Merck Looks Battered
The New York Times
August 6, 2005

Ernst v. Merck, the first Vioxx-related lawsuit to come to trial, is not over yet. But as the company begins to present its case after 14 days of testimony from plaintiffs, Merck appears to be in a deep hole.

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In Vioxx Trial, Merck's Case Suffers Setback
The New York Times
August 2, 2005

Jurors heard testimony Monday from a pathologist who said the death of a man taking the painkiller Vioxx was more than likely caused by a heart attack, potentially damaging Merck's defense in the first liability case involving the drug to reach trial.

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In Training Video, Merck Said Vioxx Did Not Increase Risk of Heart Attack
The New York Times
July 21, 2005

Merck told its sales representatives that its painkiller Vioxx did not increase the risk of heart attacks, according to a Merck training video played on Wednesday for jurors in the first Vioxx lawsuit to reach trial.

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Vioxx Executive Explains Ethics, 'Dodge Ball'
CNN
July 19, 2005

Merck & Co.'s top epidemiologist testified in the country's first Vioxx-related trial that an in-house training game for Vioxx sales representatives dubbed "Dodge Ball" was not about learning to dodge questions from doctor's about the drug's safety.

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Some Pointed Questioning at the Vioxx Trial in Texas
The New York Times
July 19, 2005

The plaintiff's lawyer in the first Vioxx lawsuit to reach trial confronted his first witness on Monday, challenging a senior scientist from the drug maker Merck over the company's marketing practices.

In two hours of questioning, the lawyer, W. Mark Lanier, confronted Dr. Nancy Santanello, Merck's head of epidemiology, with letters from the Food and Drug Administration that criticized the way Merck marketed the painkiller Vioxx and other drugs. Mr. Lanier said the letters showed that Merck, the third-largest American drug maker, repeatedly hid Vioxx's heart risks.

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Merck's Case-by-Case Defense on Vioxx Aims to Cap Payouts
Chicago Tribune
July 17, 2005

Merck & Co. began defending the first of more than 3,500 state and federal lawsuits over its popular arthritis drug Vioxx in a south Texas courtroom Thursday—enacting a case-by-case strategy analysts expect will limit what the company might have to pay.

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Jury Trial Begins in Texas Vioxx Case
Los Angeles Times
July 15, 2005

Merck & Co. traded its mission of healing for the pursuit of profit, a plaintiff's lawyer told jurors Thursday in the nation's first Vioxx lawsuit to go to trial.

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Jury Selection Begins in First Vioxx Trial
Yahoo!
July 11, 2005

About 120 potential jurors filled out questionnaires Monday as jury selection began in the nation's first Vioxx-related lawsuit to go to trial.

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Merck Fails in Bid to Postpone Vioxx Trial
The Boston Globe
July 6, 2005

Merck & Co., the third-biggest US drugmaker, failed to persuade a judge to postpone the trial of a lawsuit over the death of a Texas man who took the Vioxx painkiller.

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Judge Refuses to Delay Vioxx Jury Selection
BusinessWeek Online
July 5, 2005

A judge on Tuesday declined to postpone jury selection in the nation's first state-level wrongful death trial related to the painkiller Vioxx because he said he would not assume potential jurors were biased by pretrial publicity.

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Merck Seeks Postponement in Vioxx Trial
BusinessWeek Online
July 4, 2005

Merck & Co. is asking a judge to delay the first wrongful death trial over its pain reliever Vioxx, saying it cannot receive a fair trial if the Texas case begins next week as scheduled.

The company wants the trial postponed for at least 60 days, citing recent publicity about the drug. Merck withdrew the drug in September when research showed that patients who took it for 18 months or longer more than doubled their risk for heart attack and stroke. Since then, more than 2,400 Vioxx lawsuits have been filed nationwide.

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Texas Files Suit Against Merck Over Vioxx
USA Today
June 30, 2005

Merck, already facing more than 3,800 lawsuits filed for patients allegedly killed or injured by its Vioxx painkiller, was hit with a new legal attack Thursday as the state of Texas accused the firm of covering up the drug's health risks.

The first-of-kind Vioxx case, filed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, seeks at least $168 million in damages from Merck, which withdrew the painkiller from the market in September after a study showed it increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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Merck Tried To Alter Vioxx in 2000
Forbes.com
June 22, 2005

Merck & Co. researchers privately raised concerns in 2000 that Vioxx might increase cardiovascular side effects, even as the drug maker was publicly playing down a study that highlighted the pain relief medication's potential heart attack risk, an internal company document shows.

The widely publicized study in March 2000 found that patients taking Vioxx were five times more likely to have heart attacks than individuals using the generic medicine naproxen. Merck insisted at the time that this was a result of naproxen's cardioprotective properties and not any defect in Vioxx.

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Threats to Critics of Vioxx Alleged
The Philadelphia Inquirer
June 5, 2005

One day in 2000 after lecturing about risks of the pain-reliever Vioxx, Harvard University professor Lee Simon got a call that shocked him.

It was from Louis M. Sherwood, then a senior vice president at Merck & Co. Inc., maker of Vioxx. Based in West Point, Montgomery County, Sherwood challenged Simon's view—later proved correct—that Vioxx could cause more strokes than a rival drug.

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Merck Could Face 100,000 Vioxx Lawsuits
CBS News
May 24, 2005

A federal judge told dozens of lawyers crowded into a courtroom here Monday that there could ultimately be up to 100,000 cases filed against Merck over its now-withdrawn pain reliever Vioxx, and that he could hear a case as early as the fall.

There have been more than 2,000 cases filed against the New Jersey-based drugmaker so far. The pretrial issues for federal cases are being handled by U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon, and lawyers from both sides met here for a monthly status conference.

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Whistleblower Calls FDA to Task for Vioxx
Detroit Free Press
May 7, 2005

The FDA whistleblower who turned a public light on the dangers of pain medication Vioxx, told an Ann Arbor audience on Friday that the government needs to restructure the agency or more Americans will die.

Dr. David Graham is a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. His job is to evaluate the safety of drugs after the FDA has approved them. Last year, he testified before the Senate than an FDA failure to act on research resulted in 140,000 Vioxx patients suffering heart attacks and 60,000 of them dying.

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Vioxx Risks Not Part of Sales Pitch, Files Reveal
Los Angeles Times
May 6, 2005

Four years ago, as evidence mounted that Merck's blockbuster painkiller Vioxx could cause heart attacks, the company ordered its sales force not to discuss the emerging data with doctors, but instead to paint a reassuring picture of minimal risks, according to documents released Thursday at a congressional hearing.

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Chief Executive Quits at Merck
The New York Times
May 6, 2005

Raymond V. Gilmartin resigned yesterday as chairman and chief executive of Merck, ending a troubled decade-long term during which Merck lost its place as the world's pre-eminent drug maker and was forced into a product recall that has clouded its future.

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Documents Show Vioxx Sales Tactics
Associated Press
May 5, 2005

Merck & Co. sales personnel, using projects code-named "Offense" and "XXceleration," took extensive measures to deflect doctors' questions about the safety of the painkiller Vioxx before it was taken off the market.

Documents released Thursday at a congressional hearing detail how a sales army of 3,000 turned the drug into a multibillion-dollar blockbuster before it was pulled last fall because of an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

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How Merck Stacked the Vioxx Deck
Salon.com
March 31, 2005

The pharmaceutical giant knew there were heart risks associated with its painkiller -- but its own studies were designed to avoid finding out how serious they were.

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FDA Official Admits Lapses on Vioxx
The New York Times
March 2, 2005

After the Food and Drug Administration insisted for months that it did nothing wrong in its oversight of the withdrawn pain pill Vioxx, a top agency official acknowledged "lapses" in the agency's actions before a Senate panel on Tuesday.

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Label Quibble Helped Cause Vioxx Lapse
USA Today
March 1, 2005

Drugmaker Merck rejected many of the suggestions of federal regulators for a new warning label on Vioxx, its prescription pain medicine, which contributed to a year-long delay in cautioning patients about its use, a Food and Drug Administration official said Tuesday.

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Merck Finally Withdraws Vioxx
Martin & Jones
December 1, 2004

Vioxx, Merck’s blockbuster arthritis drug, was recalled from the market last September after questions were raised about the cardiovascular risks associated with the drug. In a press release after the recall, Merck’s CEO Raymond Gilmartin claimed that his company was “putting patient safety first” and called the heart attack risk that led to the recall “unexpected.” Internal company documents, however, suggest that Merck was aware of the cardiovascular risks associated with Vioxx years ago, even before the drug was approved for the general public.

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Weakened Regulations Harm Patients
Martin & Jones
December 1, 2004

On September 30, 2004, pharmaceutical giant Merck announced that it was withdrawing its arthritis medication Vioxx from the market. Approved by the FDA in May of 1999, Vioxx quickly became a blockbuster drug for Merck and generated $2.5 billion in annual sales.

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North Carolina Man's Vioxx Case Joins Growing Numbers Against Merck
RedNova
November 13, 2004

Nobody could explain the massive heart attack that struck John Byrd last spring. Here was a physically fit and relaxed 47-year-old who looked 10 years younger than his age. A nonsmoker who watched what he ate and stayed away from alcohol. An outdoorsman from a family with virtually no history of heart disease.

Hardly a candidate, it would seem, for a blood clot—the kind that nearly killed Byrd and left him permanently disabled.

Which is why the tire factory worker from Harnett County appears to be a dream case for attorney Forest Horne of Martin & Jones, a Raleigh firm specializing in personal injury law.

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Vioxx Malpractice
Boston Globe
November 8, 2004

In September, Merck & Co. pulled its blockbuster pain reliever for arthritis, Vioxx, from the market when a study showed that it caused heart attacks and strokes in some cases. Since then, leaks of memos and e-mails from Merck and the Food and Drug Administration have demonstrated that both were delinquent in not requiring more thorough pre-approval testing and in not at least temporarily suspending Vioxx sales after early indications that the drug was a hazard to the heart.

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FDA Releases Memo on Vioxx
The New York Times
November 3, 2004

Providing details from a report it had described broadly in August, the Food and Drug Administration published a memorandum yesterday that indicated Merck's Vioxx painkiller might have contributed to 27,785 heart attacks and deaths from 1999 through 2003.

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Failing the Public Health - Rofecoxib, Merck, and the FDA
The New England Journal of Medicine
October 21, 2004

On May 21, 1999, Merck was granted approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market rofecoxib (Vioxx). On September 30, 2004, after more than 80 million patients had taken this medicine and annual sales had topped $2.5 billion, the company withdrew the drug because of an excess risk of myocardial infarctions and strokes. This represents the largest prescription-drug withdrawal in history, but had the many warning signs along the way been heeded, such a debacle could have been prevented.

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Arthritis Drug Vioxx Yanked Off Market
The San Francisco Chronicle
October 1, 2004

Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. abruptly ordered a worldwide recall of its premier arthritis drug Vioxx on Thursday after a company-run study confirmed that long-term use of the pills increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

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Merck Pulling Vioxx Over Stroke, Heart Risk
The Seattle Times
October 1, 2004

Vioxx, the blockbuster arthritis drug dubbed at its debut as "super aspirin," was pulled from the market by its maker yesterday because the painkiller can double the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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Maker Takes Vioxx Off Market
Boston Globe
October 1, 2004

Merck & Co. yesterday pulled the blockbuster pain medicine Vioxx off the market, announcing that a new company-sponsored study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke when taken daily for more than 18 months.

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Merck Withdraws Vioxx
Forbes
September 30, 2004

Merck announced today a voluntary withdrawal of its blockbuster arthritis treatment Vioxx. Merck's decision is based on new three year data from a clinical trial designed to test the effect of Vioxx on preventing colorectal polyps. After 18 months of treatment a study showed an increased risk for cardiovascular events such as heart attach and stroke.

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