CTV.ca | Merck to face first federal Vioxx trial this month
CTV.ca | Merck to face first federal Vioxx trial this month: "Merck to face first federal Vioxx trial this month
Associated Press
HOUSTON � With Merck & Co. now 1-and-1 in state lawsuits over its Vioxx painkiller, the nation's No. 5 drug maker may face higher stakes later this month in the first federal trial of charges that it knowingly rushed a potentially lethal drug to market to pocket billions in profits.
'They have a fresh crack at it in a court that is a very important court,' said Benjamin Zipursky, a professor at Fordham Law School in New York. 'For Merck, reputationally, investors will look at what happens in federal courts as a signal of the strength of the goods on Merck.'
The federal Vioxx trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 29 in Houston, just 40 miles north of the state court where Texas jurors last August slapped Merck with a $253 million US verdict in the first Vioxx trial in the nation. Texas caps on punitive damages will cut that amount to no more than $26.1 million.
On Thursday, the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck had a win in a New Jersey state court when a jury absolved it of liability, finding that the company disclosed proper warnings about Vioxx risks.
Jere Beasley, lead lawyer for the plaintiff in the first federal trial, said his team was undaunted by the New Jersey verdict.
'We will prove our case in Texas and let a jury decide whether or not our client should receive a verdict in her case. What happened in New Jersey � the home base of Merck � won't have any effect on us in my opinion,' he said.
Jonathan Skidmore, a member of Merck's legal team, said Merck won the New Jersey case with facts and science, and will use that same strategy in the federal trial.
'We feel at the end of the day, the company, by con"
Associated Press
HOUSTON � With Merck & Co. now 1-and-1 in state lawsuits over its Vioxx painkiller, the nation's No. 5 drug maker may face higher stakes later this month in the first federal trial of charges that it knowingly rushed a potentially lethal drug to market to pocket billions in profits.
'They have a fresh crack at it in a court that is a very important court,' said Benjamin Zipursky, a professor at Fordham Law School in New York. 'For Merck, reputationally, investors will look at what happens in federal courts as a signal of the strength of the goods on Merck.'
The federal Vioxx trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 29 in Houston, just 40 miles north of the state court where Texas jurors last August slapped Merck with a $253 million US verdict in the first Vioxx trial in the nation. Texas caps on punitive damages will cut that amount to no more than $26.1 million.
On Thursday, the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck had a win in a New Jersey state court when a jury absolved it of liability, finding that the company disclosed proper warnings about Vioxx risks.
Jere Beasley, lead lawyer for the plaintiff in the first federal trial, said his team was undaunted by the New Jersey verdict.
'We will prove our case in Texas and let a jury decide whether or not our client should receive a verdict in her case. What happened in New Jersey � the home base of Merck � won't have any effect on us in my opinion,' he said.
Jonathan Skidmore, a member of Merck's legal team, said Merck won the New Jersey case with facts and science, and will use that same strategy in the federal trial.
'We feel at the end of the day, the company, by con"
posted by Chris Placitella at 5:03 AM
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