Vioxx Lawsuits Information

Vioxx is a Cox-2 inhibitor drug that is used primarily to treat patients that suffer from arthritis. Vioxx was manufactured by Merck & Co. and was original approved for sale in May 1999. By September 2004, Vioxx had been voluntary withdrawn from sale by Merck & Co.

By then, the first of nearly 6,500 Vioxx lawsuits had already been filed. The first of which came from Sue Ernst who alleged that Vioxx accelerated the heart attack which caused the death of her sporting husband.

As we enter into 2006, we have so far seen  three Vioxx lawsuits. These have been detailed below:

1.       The very first Vioxx lawsuit went to trial in August 2005 and involved Sue Ernest, the case was held in Texas and ruled the defendant was indeed liable for the untimely death of Robert Ernst, husband to Sue. Merck & Co. was ordered to pay $253 million in punitive damages.  This figure is likely to be reduced upon appeal, Merck & Co. also plan to appeal against the ruling.

2.       The second of the three Vioxx lawsuits was brought to trial in Atlantic City. A postal worker accused Vioxx of being directly responsible for a heart attack he had had  in 2001, at the time he been using Vioxx for two months. This case was ruled in favour of the defendant and Merck & Co. were ruled not responsible for the death of the postal worker.

3.       The third and final Vioxx lawsuit in 2005 was the very first federal court action, this trial was held in Houston and alleged that Vioxx caused a blood clot that led to a patient suffering a heart attack. This patient had been using Vioxx for approximately a month. Merck & Co. countered that there was no conclusive evidence that supported such a devastating impact following short term use of Vioxx. This trial was eventually declared a mistrial in December 2005, this followed over jury deliberations for three days, they were unable to agree a verdict.

Following these initial Vioxx lawsuits, it is now believed that Merck & Co. face an estimated seven thousand Vioxx lawsuits, including a high number of class action lawsuits.