Merck Prevails in 2nd Vioxx Case
The drug giant Merck won decisively Thursday in the second Vioxx-related personal injury case to go to trial, an outcome that legal experts say could slow the flood of lawsuits against the company.
A nine-member jury in a state court here found by an 8-to-1 vote that the painkiller Vioxx had not caused Frederick Humeston, a 60-year-old Idaho postal worker, to have a heart attack in September 2001. Mr. Humeston, who survived, testified in the case.
Perhaps just as significant for Merck, which is already the subject of thousands of Vioxx cases and in August lost the first one to go to trial, the jury concluded unanimously that the company had properly marketed the drug. Vioxx was taken by 20 million Americans between 1999 and 2004. Merck stopped selling it after a clinical trial linked the drug to heart attacks and strokes in patients taking Vioxx for 18 months or longer.
Source: NY Times.
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