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Mid-Missouri Residents Sue Merck Over Vioxx

Posted on: Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

Aug. 27--Five Mid-Missouri residents, including two from Columbia, have joined a federal lawsuit against Merck, maker of the painkiller Vioxx, alleging the company did not tell consumers of potential dangers associated with its product.

Filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City, the lawsuit also claims Merck "concealed and misrepresented" dangers affecting the hearts of patients who took the drug. Each plaintiff named in the lawsuit says he or she suffered a heart attack or a stroke after taking Vioxx.

"What happened here was a corporate cover-up," said Jerry Schlichter, a St. Louis attorney who is representing plaintiffs from Columbia, Auxvasse and Sedalia as well as 28 others in Missouri who say they were injured by Merck.

The lawsuit seeks damages exceeding $75,000 for each plaintiff under seven allegations listed in the court document.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vioxx, a drug used to treat pain and arthritis, in 1999. Subsequent tests by doctors revealed what some researchers believed was a higher-than-average risk of cardiovascular problems among patients taking the drug.

Despite continued criticism of the drug by the FDA, Vioxx was only pulled from pharmacy shelves in September 2004 after an independent study revealed that continued use of the drug -- for more than 18 months -- increased the risks of heart attack and stroke.

Earlier this month, a jury in Texas decided Merck was responsible for the death of 59-year-old Robert Ernst and awarded his widow, Carol Ernst, more than $253 million. The award will be reduced to $26 million under Texas law, and Merck has vowed to appeal.

Nearly 5,000 other lawsuits have been filed against the New Jersey-based drug manufacturer, according to recent news reports.

Janice Bell of Auxvasse is listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed yesterday. The 51-year-old nurse said she began to have heart palpitations after taking Vioxx for three years for arthritis in her neck.

"It really floored me when I started to have these chest pains," Bell said yesterday, adding that a doctor also found a "blockage" she thinks was caused by Vioxx.

"I'm off the Vioxx, and I haven't had any problems since," Bell said.

Kenneth Frazier, Merck's general counsel, said in a statement after the Texas jury's decision that the company acted appropriately when it voluntary discontinued Vioxx in 2004.

"Merck is driven by science and our commitment to acting in the best interest of patients," Frazier said. "Merck acted responsibly -- from researching Vioxx prior to approval in studies with almost 10,000 patients -- to monitoring the medicine while it was on the market -- to voluntarily withdrawing the medicine when we did."

Schlichter issued a news release yesterday that called heart attacks, strokes and deaths allegedly caused by Vioxx a "tragedy."

"The tragedy of Vioxx is, these were innocent victims of a cover-up of the risks of this drug by Merck," he said in the release.

Other local residents listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit -- Russell Carter of Columbia, Frances Reeves of Fulton and Walter Flippin of Sedalia -- could not be reached yesterday for comment.

JoAnn Ruhr, another Columbia plaintiff in the lawsuit, said she suffered a heart attack after taking Vioxx, but she declined to comment, saying the case was "personal."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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MRK,

Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

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