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A Texas appeals court has scrapped a $26 million verdict against the drugmaker Merck stemming from the first trial involving its once popular painkiller Vioxx.

The Vioxx Settlement - A Lesson in Corporate Risk Management Written by Rick Vassar Published November 12, 2007 On November 9, 2007, Merck announced that it was settling approximately 27,000 lawsuits arising from the sale and distribution of Vioxx. At the time it was approved by the FDA in May 1999, Vioxx, a Cox-2 inhibitor, was hailed as a breakthrough in pain management. The data that indicated that Vioxx led to an increased chance of heart attack and stroke was evident from the start. As early as April 2000, the FDA expressed concern, and it pressed Merck to add warnings...

Seeking to recoup tens of millions spent by government-financed health programs on prescriptions for Vioxx, New York State and New York City joined yesterday in filing a lawsuit against Merck, the drug’s maker, which withdrew the painkiller from the market in 2004 because of dangerous side effects. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accuses Merck & Company of intentionally concealing the dangers of Vioxx, and therefore defrauding the state Medicaid program, which paid for the prescriptions. The drug was used to treat arthritis and migraines but led to a high risk of heart attacks and strokes....

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in New Orleans threw out a Vioxx victory for Merck, citing misrepresentation by a key company witness and clearing the way for a third trial in the case of a widow who charges that the painkiller caused her husband's fatal heart attack. ADVERTISEMENT U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon on Tuesday granted Evelyn Irvin Plunkett's motion for a new trial and vacated a jury judgment in favor of Merck (NYSE:MRK - News) "due to a misrepresentation by one of Merck's primary witnesses that prevented Ms. Plunkett from fully and fairly presenting her case." Fallon,...

Merck & Co Inc.'s successor to the recalled pain reliever Vioxx should not be approved, a U.S. advisory panel ruled on Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration's panel of outside experts voted 20-1 against recommending clearance for the drug, called Arcoxia. The agency is not required to follow panel recommendations but usually does. Merck said it expects a final FDA decision on Arcoxia by month's end. The company had argued Arcoxia was as safe as other pain relievers on the market and would be a valuable alternative for arthritis patients who do not respond well to current options. Panel members,...

Much attention has been focused on the cardiovascular risks posed by Vioxx and other so-called cox-2 inhibitors in recent years, so the American Heart Association provided an important service this week by reminding us that many other painkillers have risks associated with them. The association spelled out gradations of cardiovascular risk and recommended a step-by-step approach — starting with nonmedicinal remedies — that doctors should follow when treating joint and ligament pain. The scientific statement applies specifically to patients who already have or are at risk of heart disease and also need relief from pain — whether caused by short-term...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers criticized the Food and Drug Administration's monitoring of the risks of the antibiotic Ketek (Sanofi-Aventis) and some other prescription drugs on Tuesday. At a hearing on the FDA's drug safety oversight, lawmakers said the agency stifled dissent about the risks of drugs when top managers disagreed. They cited problems with Ketek, Vioxx (Merck & Co. Inc.'s withdrawn arthritis drug) and antidepressants made by several companies. "With each of these drugs, it appears that the FDA is not seriously questioning whether the risks outweigh the benefits of the new drug," said Rep. Bart Stupak (news, bio,...

(AP) LOS ANGELES A hung jury has forced a mistrial in lawsuits by two men who blamed their heart attacks on Merck & Co.'s once-popular painkiller Vioxx. The two cases were tried together before a Los Angeles jury that deadlocked when they reached the third question on a lengthy verdict form. The jury did answer "yes" to the first two questions, finding that Vioxx did have potential risks or side-effects that were known or knowable and that they presented a substantial danger to users of Vioxx. The third question asked if the plaintiffs' physicians would have recognized the potential risks...

New Orleans -- Thousands of federal lawsuits claiming the drug Vioxx caused heart attacks and other conditions that killed or injured people cannot be pooled into one national class action, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon, who was appointed to deal with pretrial matters for all federal suits involving Merck & Co.'s withdrawn painkiller, did not rule on the possibility of separate class-actions suits for each state and the District of Columbia.

Studies raise new concern about other medications ASSOCIATED PRESS Worried that your painkiller could trigger a heart attack or dangerous stomach bleeding? New reports on painkiller risks, based on reviews of dozens of studies including hundreds of thousands of patients, indicate most patients should try naproxen, an older anti-inflammatory drug. Experts say it doesn't raise heart attack or stroke risk -- a major worry for older people -- and naproxen is inexpensive because generic versions have been around for years. Available over the counter, it's taken by millions of Americans. The drawback is that like most painkillers, it can irritate...

Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK - news) on Thursday suffered a double setback when a federal jury awarded $51 million to a former user of its withdrawn pain medicine Vioxx, and a New Jersey judge threw out a Vioxx verdict that had favored the drug maker and ordered a new trial. The news sent its shares down 5.7 percent, and evened the score between Merck and plaintiffs in Vioxx cases at four victories apiece. The company is facing at least 14,200 other lawsuits from people who say they were harmed by the drug, but Merck vowed to continue defending itself on...

LOS ANGELES - A California jury on Wednesday found pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. not liable for causing an elderly man's heart ailments after he took the drug maker's once-popular painkiller Vioxx. After deliberating several hours in California's first trial over Vioxx, the 12-person jury determined that Merck was not negligent, did not conceal information and that the drug did not cause Stewart Grossberg's health problems. Grossberg, 71, had sought compensatory and punitive damages, as well $214,000 for medical bills. The drug maker faces more than 16,000 lawsuits involving Vioxx, which was pulled from the market in 2004 after a...

Eighteen months. Ever since Merck pulled its arthritis painkiller Vioxx off the market in September 2004 on evidence that it could cause strokes or heart attacks, the company and its lawyers have stood by the premise that it was dangerous only to patients who took it for at least 18 months. So it was news last week when prominent medical experts said that new data from Merck indicated that Vioxx's risks started to emerge after only four months of use. The controversy is the latest illustration of how widely open to interpretation and potential corporate pressure the results of clinical...

ASSOCIATED PRESS TRENTON, N.J. – Unpublished data from the Merck & Co. study that led the drugmaker to halt sales of Vioxx appear to show the blockbuster painkiller raised the risk of heart attack and stroke within just a few months – not after at least 18 months' use, as Merck has consistently argued. The company disputed that Thursday, saying it is “not scientifically appropriate” to draw conclusions based on a key graph in a 108-page report on the data. The news, first reported by National Public Radio, comes after prominent doctors said Merck misrepresented other data from the same...

Merck & Co. Inc. is seeking to sever the cases of two plaintiffs that a judge plans to try together in the Vioxx trial set to begin Monday in Atlantic City. While both plaintiffs allege to have suffered heart attacks after taking the drug for more than two years before, the drug maker argues that the facts, witness testimony and scientific and marketing evidence presented by each would confuse jurors to Merck's disadvantage. Merck's lawyers say the "threshold difference ... has to do with the length of each man's Vioxx usage." They argue that plaintiff Thomas Cona's pharmaceutical records show...

See this thread first, for example.\ A jury has just now cleared Merck They said its Cox-2 drug will work Sing, "Vioxx for pain!" And here's the refrain: "A class action lawyer's a jerk"

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Jurors have cleared Merck & Co. of responsiblity for the death of a Florida man in the first federal case involving its once popular painkiller Vioxx .

ew England Journal of Politics January 16, 2006; Page A14 Merck scored a court victory late last month, convincing all but one federal juror that it acted responsibly in developing and marketing its Vioxx painkiller. What makes the outcome more notable is that it came despite the efforts of Merck's latest accuser, the New England Journal of Medicine. Accusations aren't the usual fare of august medical journals, so it's worth trying to understand the publication's self-insertion into the Merck litigation. Its extraordinary decision to publish a critical statement about a Vioxx study it ran years ago is being hailed by...

The judge in the first federal lawsuit against Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) and its painkiller Vioxx declared a mistrial Monday. After about 18 hours of deliberations over three days, the jury was unable to side with the drug maker or the widow of a 53-year-old Florida man who died after taking Vioxx for about a month. The jury resumed what was to be its fourth day of deliberations Monday, but within about 20 minutes, U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon called the jurors in and reminded them they had agreed to reach a verdict in a "reasonable time."

When a prominent medical journal accused Merck-sponsored researchers of excising data from a scientific paper to play down the heart risks of the painkiller Vioxx, it further tarnished the reputation of a company once revered for its corporate ethics. The accusation may well have an impact on the myriad lawsuits filed against Merck because it undermines Merck's contention that it disclosed all it knew about the risks of Vioxx. More broadly, the incident underscores the danger that industry-backed studies may not tell the whole truth about products vital to a company's bottom line. The paper in question was published in...

TRENTON, N.J. -- Drugmaker Merck & Co., squeezed by Vioxx lawsuits, tumbling revenues and other troubles, is eliminating 7,000 jobs and five production plants and revamping manufacturing in the first phase of a global reorganization. The long-awaited announcement Monday drove Merck shares down more than 4 percent. The restructuring of manufacturing, supply chain and research operations, meant to lower pretax costs by $3.5 billion to $4 billion through 2010, includes immediately starting to cut 11 percent of Merck's work force, with 60 percent of the reductions in manufacturing. The rest of the job cuts -- the third round announced since...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Merck & Co. (MRK) on Thursday took a major victory in the case its controversial painkiller, Vioxx, with a New Jersey jury deciding the drugmaker had adequately warned consumers of risks associated with Vioxx

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- In a major victory for Merck & Co., a jury has found the drugmaker properly warned consumers about Vioxx risks. The finding means Merck will not be held liable for the 2001 heart attack suffered by a man taking the painkiller.

According to The Archives of Internal Medicine, pharmaceutical companies market a drug that kills some 7,000 Americans annually. These people don’t die instantly, but instead expire after slowly suffering gastrointestinal bleeding. Oddly enough, TV-news producers are ho-hum about this deadly medicine. The Food and Drug Administration has yet to prohibit it. Personal-injury attorneys aim their crosshairs elsewhere. No one seems much concerned about a lethal substance called aspirin. That’s right. Aspirin — a drug so trusted that moms give the St. Joseph’s strain to their children — kills more than 580 Americans each month. And nobody cares. Americans judge aspirin’s...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The judge in the second Vioxx product liability trial delivered a stunning blow to Merck & Co. Friday when she struck the testimony of its first defense witness from the record. With the jury outside, Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee said she felt misled and sickened upon rereading the transcript of Thursday's testimony by a Merck researcher who said studies by the company in the late 1990s showed the pain reliever would not cause heart damage. Higbee struck the testimony of Merck researcher Dr. Briggs Morrison from the record because she said he was not an...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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...

The Texas jury that ruled the prescription drug Vioxx was responsible for the death of a 59-year-old jogger, Robert Ernst, may have been duped by a questionable scientific theory introduced by the plaintiff's attorney, Mark Lanier. The theoretical sequence of events concocted by him to link Vioxx to Ernst's death -- a blood clot leading to a heart attack and then to a fatal arrhythmia... -- was contrary to Ernst's autopsy.... The jury's verdict shows that our system is failing to provide justice reliably in medical cases. The remedy? Specialized state medical courts, where judges stop lawyers and hired-gun witnesses...

First it was nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Then he was AWOL. After that came Plamegate. So, what pray tell will be the next left-wing attack on our president? Potentially, the manner in which the Vioxx story was covered this weekend by the New York Times gives us some clues. To begin with, a front-page article Saturday by Alex Berenson reported the surprise verdict that gave the widow of a man who died after taking Merck’s painkiller an astounding $253.5 million award including $229 million in punitive damages. Just in case people missed it, the Times ran another article by...

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 pain killer was introduced, newly disclosed documents show. The application suggests that Merck was attempting to reformulate the drugs targeted for arthritis sufferers two years earlier than had been previously disclosed. But while the patent was granted in September 1999 by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Merck officials say no product with those properties was ever introduced. Instead, Merck began marketing Vioxx in the United States soon...

...Forget the jury's whopping quarter-billion-dollar verdict in Ernst v. Merck, because it's cut 90% by the caps that Texas law places on punitive damages.... But in truth, we should be grateful to any firm that speeds its product to market when its anticipated use promises many more benefits than adverse side-effects. Merck should not apologize for pushing hard to win quick market acceptance; before Vioxx was withdrawn, countless people with chronic pain were able to get on with their lives. Now these folks are left far worse off because of a double whammy: a Food and Drug Administration that yanks...

In the battle between sound science and the trial bar, it was probably too much to hope that Merck would win the lawsuit whose verdict came down Friday. There was no direct causal link between Vioxx and the arrythmia that the autopsy showed had caused the death of a Texas man whose wife brought the suit. The only evidence for such a link was the speculation from the medical examiner that Vioxx had caused a heart attack that she had not been able to detect and had not bothered to put on the death certificate. But no matter. This was...

ANGLETON — A few of the jurors on the nation's first civil suit against pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., over its painkiller Vioxx talked about their decision today. They awarded the widow of Robert Ernst, who died after taking Vioxx, $253.4 million in damages. The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated for 10½ hours over two days before returning the verdict in a 10-2 vote. Ten of the 12 jurors concurred with Carol Ernst's contention that the Vioxx was responsible for her husband's death. Juror Derrick Chizer, who voted for Ernst, said the 10 like-minded jurors believed a heart attack triggered the...

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. "If the judgment is that there's blood on Merck's (nyse: MRK - news - people ) hands," Graham says, "there's blood on the FDA's hands as well."...

Awards $253M to Widow in Vioxx Death By KRISTEN HAYS and THERESA AGOVINO, AP Business Writer 4 minutes ago ANGLETON, Texas - A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx. Jurors awarded Robert Ernst's widow, Carol, $253.4 million in damages, which is a combination of his lost pay as a Wal-Mart produce manager, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages. In Texas, punitive damages are capped at twice the amount of economic damages — lost pay — and up to $750,000 on top of non-economic...

News Flash on CNN.com: BREAKING NEWS Jury finds Vioxx maker Merck negligent, awards $229 million in damages. Details soon.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - 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. Plaintiff Carol Ernst has won her lawsuit in Texas Superior Court, which blames Vioxx for the 2001 death of her husband, Robert Ernst, a 59-year-old marathon runner and Wal-Mart worker who was taking the arthritis painkiller at the time of his death. Ernst died of a heart attack. The verdict held Merck liable for the death. The jury awarded...

ANGLETON -- The Brazoria County jury in the nation's first Vioxx-related civil trial has found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took the painkiller.Jurors awarded Robert Ernst's widow, Carol, $253.4 million in damages, which is a combination of his lost pay as a Wal-Mart produce manager, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages. Carol Ernst began to cry when the verdict was read while her attorneys jumped up and shouted, "Amen!" The plaintiffs team huddled and hugged and repeated, "Amen, amen," while plaintiff's lawyer Ben Morelli told Ernst, "It's your jury." "Anyone who said they...

ANGLETON, Tex., Aug. 19 - In the first Vioxx-related personal-injury lawsuit to reach a verdict, a Texas jury awarded $253 million this afternoon from Merck, the maker of Vioxx, to the widow of Robert Ernst, who died in 2001 after taking the painkiller and arthritis medicine. After deliberating for two days, the jury of seven men and five women said that Mr. Ernst's widow Carol had suffered mental anguish and economic losses and that Merck had acted recklessly in selling Vioxx despite knowing that it was highly risky. Judge Ben Hardin of the Texas District Court announced the verdict on...

ABC is reporting that a jury in Texas ruled against Merck in the case of the plantiff accusing Vioxx of causing her husbands heart attack. She was asking for $40 million. Written story is not out yet.

ANGLETON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx in the first of thousands of lawsuits pending across the country. The case drew national attention from pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers, stock analysts and arbitragers as a signal of what lies ahead for Merck, which has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending across the country. Merck said it plans to appeal. A seven-man, five-woman jury from a semi-rural county south of Houston deliberated for 10 1/2...

In the latest blow for beleaguered drug maker Merck & Co., a New Jersey judge has ruled that health plans that paid for members' Vioxx prescriptions can sue as a class to recover billions of dollars they spent on the recalled painkiller. Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee in Atlantic City late Friday granted a motion filed by a labor union health plan to allow a nationwide class-action lawsuit to proceed under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, had opposed the motion, which was filed by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 Welfare...

ANGLETON - The first Vioxx lawsuit trial in the country has already gone to a state appeals court - even though the trial itself is not yet half over. Attorneys for pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. filed a motion in the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston today seeking to block the testimony of pathologist Dr. Maria Araneta. "The trial court abused any applicable discretion by allowing trial by ambush," Merck said in its petition. Araneta performed the 2001 autopsy of Robert Ernst. His widow, Carol Ernst, claims he died as a result of taking the once-popular painkiller Vioxx....

ANGLETON, Texas - The pathologist whose 2001 autopsy of a Texas man is central to the nation's first Vioxx-related civil trial told attorneys in a deposition that his death from arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, was probably brought on by a heart attack. "Arrhythmia does not spontaneously occur. Something must trigger it," Dr. Maria Araneta told attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit, according to a transcript of the deposition obtained by The Associated Press. She said Robert Ernst, whose widow, Carol, is the plaintiff in the case, probably had a heart attack because a blood clot blocked blood flow...

ANGLETON, Texas - Merck & Co.'s top epidemiologist faces the potential for a tough week when testimony begins in the nation's first Vioxx-related lawsuit to go to trial. Nancy Santanello, executive director and head of Merck's department of epidemiology, attended opening statements in the case last week and was expected to return to the courtroom Monday. If so, the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier, aims to make her his first witness. "It's my intention to really go after her," Lanier said Sunday. Lanier tried to get Santanello in the witness chair last week after jurors listened to hours of opening statements...

HOUSTON - For more than eight months, Vioxx eased the pain and stiffness in Robert Ernst's hands. But eight days after Ernst, a 59-year-old personal trainer, clocked 62 miles on a bike, he died in his sleep from arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696609 Health & Science Part 1: Documents Suggest Merck Tried to Censor Vioxx Critics by Snigdha Prakash All Things Considered, June 9, 2005 · Because of intense interest in this report, NPR has decided to present a full transcript. Introduction: NPR's story about Merck and its efforts to suppress safety concerns about the painkiller Vioxx continues with a look at how Merck exerted its influence in the world of top medical institutions. NPR's Snighda Prakash presents part two of her report. Transcript: Introduction: At least 38,000 Americans are believed to have died from taking the pain pill Vioxx before it...

In 2000, amid rising concerns that its painkiller Vioxx posed heart risks, Merck overruled one of its own scientists after he suggested that a patient in a clinical trial had probably died of a heart attack. In an e-mail exchange about Vioxx, the company's most important new drug at the time, a senior Merck scientist repeatedly urged the researcher to change his views about the death "so that we don't raise concerns." In later reports to the Food and Drug Administration and in a paper published in 2003, Merck listed the cause of death as "unknown" for the patient, a...

Does anyone read warning labels anymore? Did you know, for instance, that the Prozac warning label cautions a "risk of suicidal thinking and behavior"? And you thought Prozac was merely an anti-depressant. Prozac, states its warning, also may induce "nausea, nervousness, weakness, loss of appetite, tremors, dry mouth, sweating, decreased sex drive, impotence, or yawning." Obviously millions of patients accept those hazards because the benefits outweigh the risks. Impotence? What about erectile dysfunction drugs? You've heard the warning: Sometimes the stuff works exceedingly well - for four straight hours, even. The patient is then left with an uncomfortable decision of...

Can a dietary supplement pick up the pieces? Glucosamine, often recommended for joint pain, is one of the most popular supplements on the market. And considering the health concerns recently associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, I thought it would be worth looking into whether glucosamine lives up to the hype.Background: Glucosamine and chondroitin are often combined together and used to treat osteoarthritis (OA), which occurs when the cartilage covering the end of the bone near the joint breaks down. OA affects the knees, backs, hips, hands and feet of more than 21 million people over age 45. And, according to...

Merck's best defense in the cascade of lawsuits it faces from consumers who claim they were harmed by taking Vioxx is crumbling. That isn't because of any missteps by the company. No, as is so often the case in the drug industry today, the problem is the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In the last month, the FDA has managed to put its own competence and scientific expertise on trial. The fact that the FDA had approved Vioxx for safety and efficacy had looked to be one of the strongest parts of Merck's defense. Hey, the company could argue, after...