Balanced News Blog

U.S. drug company Merck & Co. might consider settling a small number of Vioxx cases involving people who claim they were harmed by the painkiller and who fit a very narrow profile, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The company’s general counsel stressed that Merck had not changed its strategy of fighting every case in court, it said.

However, a Merck spokeswoman told the newspaper that in cases where patients took Vioxx for more than 18 months and had no other risk factors for heart attacks or strokes, “we’re going to have to carefully look at those cases.”

Source: Reuters.