Date Published: Thursday, October 1st, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court has thrown out a Merck & Co. appeal of a $4.5 million Vioxx award. According to a Business Week report, the dismissal ended the last unresolved Vioxx patient lawsuit.
Vioxx was approved for use in 1999, and quickly became a blockbuster for Merck, with annual sales of $2.5 billion. However, the painkiller was pulled off the market in 2004 after an analysis of patients using Vioxx linked the defective... Read Full Story
Date Published: Monday, September 28th, 2009
The $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement announced by Merck & Co. in 2007 will include payments to the families of over 3,000 people who died of a heart attack or stroke while taking the now-withdrawn painkiller, according to a report on Bloomberg.com.
Vioxx was approved for use in 1999, and quickly became a blockbuster for Merck, with annual sales of $2.5 billion. However, the painkiller was pulled off the market in 2004 after an... Read Full Story
Date Published: Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
In yet another recent legal settlement, Merck & Co has agreed to pay $80 million to settle 190 claims concerning its recalled pain medication, Vioxx , reports Reuters. In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, reported Reuters, Merck said it recorded an “$80 million charge” in this year’s second quarter for “the settlement with third-party payors,” including “unions and health insurance plans.”
Last month, we wrote... Read Full Story
Date Published: Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
In the ongoing legal activity surrounding Merck & Company’s recalled blockbuster pain medication, Vioxx , another settlement has been reached in a lawsuit allegedly involving the death of John Henderson, the Madison St. Clair Record just reported.
Henderson’s wife, Norma Henderson, and her attorneys agreed to accept the proposed settlement in excess of $200,000, said the Madison St. Clair Record. The lawsuit was originally filed... Read Full Story
Date Published: Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
In the continuing legal problems over painkiller Vioxx , a new lawsuit has emerged in the United States naming a number of federal lawmakers as defendants. The lawsuit was filed this week and names U.S. democratic senators Patrick Leahy (Vermont), Russell Feingold (Wisconsin), and Edward Kennedy (Massachusetts), said Highlands Today.
Vioxx was approved for use in the U.S. in 1999, quickly becoming a blockbuster for drug maker, Merck... Read Full Story
Researchers looked at 2,434 patients with stage 1 or stage 2 colorectal cancer, half of whom were taking 25 mg daily rofecoxib, sold under the brand name Vioxx.
The patients were taking Vioxx for an average of just 7.4 months before the trial was suddenly early, because of worldwide warnings about the increased heart risk from Vioxx.
An analysis of the trial found that of 23 heart & circulation problems that occurred during the study period, 16 happened while the patients were taking... Read Full Story
Date Published: Thursday, May 21st, 2009
The ongoing Vioxx trial in Australia has just revealed that Merck, the maker of the controversial drug, paid so-called nurses to look through medical records in search of potential Vioxx patients, BNET reports. According to the Australian court, the nurses accessed patient records without obtaining physician permission in the hopes of garnering 100 patients per doctor, explained BNET. Patients were sought who were not taking, but... Read Full Story
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
AP Business Writer
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ Merck & Co. will start cutting checks for former users of its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx next month after announcing Thursday that it will fund a $4.85 billion settlement expected to resolve roughly 50,000 lawsuits.
The decision marks the beginning of the end of the four-year legal saga, which began when cardiovascular side effects forced Merck to pull Vioxx off the market in 2004, triggering tens of thousands of lawsuits... Read Full Story
By: LISA R. WILSON
The latest slew of overturned verdicts against Merck, the makers of the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx , is yet another indication of the increasing difficulty that plaintiffs’ lawyers are experiencing in winning lawsuits against big drug companies. The latest ruling overturned a $26 million jury verdict against Merck in Texas based on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to link use of Vioxx to a plaintiff’s fatal heart attack. The initial lawsuit was brought by... Read Full Story
Date Published: Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
The Vioxx trial that is ongoing in Australia and which has shed new light on the questionable tactics Merck & Co. used to market the dangerous painkiller has, said the Australian, involved a leading American cardiologist who testified that Vioxx played a “substantial contributing role” to the heart attack suffered by a 58-year-old Australian.
Vioxx was approved for use in the U.S. in 1999 and quickly became a blockbuster for Merck... Read Full Story
