Court Rules in Merck’s Favour Over Vioxx Risks

Merck shares rallied yesterday after the US drugs giant won a victory in its struggle to fend off lawsuits over its arthritis medicine Vioxx. A New Jersey jury ruled the drugs giant did not mislead doctors and users about Vioxx’s risks. It is the second Vioxx case to come to court and has involved a seven-week trial in which lawyers for Frederick Humeston, a 60-year-old postal worker, claimed his heart attack was caused by the drug. The case has been watched closely to see if Merck’s defence strategy would hold up in court. A Vioxx trial in August found Merck guilty of hiding the risks of the drug and found it liable in the death of a Vioxx user, awarding his widow damages of $253m (pounds 143m). Merck pulled its $2.5bn-a-year drug from the market last September after a trial showed long-term use of Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Irwin Mitchell, the UK law firm that is pursuing claims on behalf of people in the UK who have suffered heart attacks after taking Vioxx, said yesterday the plaintiff in the New Jersey case might have lost his case because he had taken the drug for only two months before his heart attack. It said proceedings in the UK were likely to start in the early next year.