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Alleged Vioxx Ills Go on Trial in Texas

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 21:01 CDT

Jul. 15--ANGLETON -- The heart of 59-year-old marathoner Bob Ernst stopped beating as he slept in May 2001. On Thursday, lawyers for his widow began their quest to convince a Brazoria County jury that the pain medication Vioxx caused Ernst's sudden death.

The case filed by Carol Ernst of Keene will be the first to be heard among thousands charging that Merck's blockbuster drug prompted heart attacks and strokes, causing unexpected deaths and injuries.

Bob Ernst took Vioxx to combat arthritic pain in his hands.

"Is this a fellow that's one pork chop away from a heart attack? No," attorney Mark Lanier told the jury as he showed Ernst running a marathon and biking long distances with his wife.

Following Lanier's opening arguments -- on the first day of a five-week trial -- Merck attorneys contended the company acted responsibly once it knew the risks.

Merck's attorneys have defended the company's practices, saying it withdrew the drug as soon as it realized there might be problems.

Merck defense lawyer David Kiernan said every study done by Merck from the early 1990s through early 2004 found no statistically significant difference in heart problems for those taking Vioxx and those taking a placebo.

"The FDA said Vioxx is safe and effective" in March 2000, Kiernan said.

A later long-term study found there was little difference in results over 18 months, but at 30 months of taking Vioxx there were 35 heart attacks and only 25 heart attacks for those taking placebos.

"It was a small difference, but it was a significant one to Merck," Kiernan said.

That caused then-Merck CEO Raymond Gilmartin to withdraw the drug from the market in September 2004. Kiernan said the FDA since has looked at a four-year study by Merck and didn't see a heightened number of heart attacks.

John Skidmore, a spokesman for the Merck legal team, said Merck tried to move the venue closer to Dallas where Merck has a corporate presence.

Though Brazoria County has a reputation for plaintiff-friendly verdicts, Skidmore said Merck looks forward to presenting its case to the jury.

"Sudden death is a tragedy, and we don't take that lightly," Skidmore said. "But Vioxx had nothing to do with Mr. Ernst's death."

Ernst's lawsuit is the first case of about 3,300 nationwide, including about a dozen filed in San Antonio, to go to trial.

Former San Antonio Spurs Coyote Tim Derk is among those suing Merck. The beloved mascot suffered career-ending health problems that he contends were caused by taking Vioxx to block pain.

With media and lawyers from around the country packing the courtroom, Lanier said Merck was a respectable company until a management change in 1994.

"The motive was money," he said. "The new management turned Merck into an ATM machine."

He also said Merck hurried to get Vioxx on the market to compete with Pfizer Corp.'s Celebrex, another pain medication that had been approved earlier. Celebrex also has been taken off the market, and faces similar lawsuits.

Lanier said marketing people were added to Merck's science team when putting new drugs into the pipeline for sale intensified, and the company spent millions of dollars pushing doctors to write prescriptions to for Vioxx and convincing patients to ask for it.

Vioxx sales in 2003 were about $2.5 billion.

"Nothing stops the Merck marketing machine," Lanier said of the 4,700 sales people that were dedicated to selling Vioxx.

But Kiernan said the plaintiff lawyers falsely accused Merck of bullying doctors. He also said Lanier was taking portions of documents out of context to make Merck appear to be a bad company.

While Merck lawyers are steadfast that they were "taking each case one by one," Skidmore acknowledges that as the first of many Vioxx cases, this one is important because of the heightened attention.

Witness testimony begins Monday.

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Copyright (c) 2005, San Antonio Express-News

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MRK,

Source: San Antonio Express-News

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