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Merck Wins Big in Jersey Vioxx Trial
The nation's second trial over health effects of the drug Vioxx got swamped in New Jersey last month, as a jury categorically rejected claims that failure to warn about the painkiller's risks caused a user's heart attack. The jury found, 8-1, that Merck & Co. properly alerted prescribing physicians to a link between Vioxx and an increased risk of cardiovascular events, and found unanimously that there were no consumer-fraud violations in the way Merck marketed Vioxx to physicians. As a result, the jury never reached the question of proximate causation of postal worker Frederick “Mike” Humeston's heart attack.
The verdict, rendered after 8 hours of deliberation, is a victory on several fronts for the Whitehouse Station, NJ, drug maker and its lawyers. It likely will deter suits by plaintiffs like Humeston, who had short-term exposure to Vioxx and who are still alive. The verdict also resonated on Wall Street, where Merck shares rose 6% after the verdict, a welcome comeback after stock plummeted in the wake of a $253 million verdict in the first Vioxx trial in Angleton, TX, in August.
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