2 Volusia residents join Vioxx lawsuits

Maureen Perricone and David Byrd of Volusia County were among the millions of people who found relief from nagging pain with Vioxx, a popular painkiller often praised as a wonder drug that worked when others failed.
But while taking Vioxx, both Perricone and Byrd suffered heart attacks, and claim in lawsuits the drug was to blame.
The two Volusia suits are among the nearly 7,000 suits facing Merck & Co. over its once-lucrative drug. This week, a judge in Houston declared a mistrial in a case brought by the widow of a 53-year-old Florida man who died after taking Vioxx for about a month.
In Volusia County, Perricone, of Port Orange, alleges in her suit that she suffered a heart attack in January 2004, just eight months before Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market. She alleges Merck concealed the cardiovascular risks associated with Vioxx.
Byrd, of Daytona Beach, makes the same allegations against Merck in his suit, but also named two of the company's sales representatives as defendants. Byrd alleges Daniel G. Myers of Duval County and Laura Swidler of Orange County promoted and encouraged physicians, including Byrd's doctor, to prescribe Vioxx and misrepresented the drug's safety and effectiveness.
Byrd, who had a heart attack in 2002, and Perricone say they have suffered permanent damages and disabilities. They seek unspecified damages in excess of $15,000.
Tampa attorney Brenda Fulmer, who represents Perricone and Byrd, said she has filed about 40 Vioxx cases statewide. She declined to discuss the Perricone and Byrd suits. But she said Merck "chose to ignore the safety risks" of Vioxx.
"If patients were properly warned, they wouldn't take the drug," she said.
Jeanine Clemente, a spokeswoman for Merck, said Tuesday the company has acted in the best interests of patients and will "vigorously defend itself" in the Volusia suits.
"Merck acted responsibly every step of the way -- from researching the drug prior to approval to monitoring the drug while it was on the market and to voluntarily withdrawing the drug when it did," Clemente said.
The Volusia suits allege that as a result of Merck's misrepresentations about Vioxx, it reaped more than $2 billion in profits in the 2000 alone.
Merck emerged from its first federal trial Monday with a hung jury when the panel failed, in about 18 hours of deliberations over three days, to reach a verdict. The panel was at odds over whether Merck was liable in Richard "Dicky" Irvin's 2001 death and whether the company failed to issue safety warnings that the drug could have serious cardiovascular repercussions.