Merck faces lawyer who beat them before on Vioxx use
Merck & Co, after one win, one loss and one mistrial in defending lawsuits over its Vioxx painkiller, will next face the lawyer who beat the company in the first case.
Thomas Cona, a Vietnam War veteran who took Vioxx over a two-year period for lower-back pain, claims the drug caused his heart attack. Merck has said there is some risk of heart attack or stroke after at least 18 months of Vioxx use. Cona will be represented by Mark Lanier, the Texas lawyer who won the first case, which produced a $253 million verdict against Merck.
At Cona’s trial, scheduled for February 27 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Merck will have to persuade jurors that Cona wasn’t at risk notwithstanding its statements or that something other than Vioxx caused his heart attack, lawyers said.
Merck, the world’s third-largest drugmaker, is defending about 7,000 Vioxx lawsuits. “The plaintiffs already have part of their case established,” said Arnold Levin, a partner in Philadelphia’s Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, who represents federal Vioxx claimants and isn’t involved in the New Jersey case.
Merck will also have to explain the December 8 disclosure by a scholarly journal that the company withheld three heart attack cases from a study about risks to patients who took the drug.
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck has set aside $675 million to fight Vioxx claims. A judge overseeing federal cases filed over the drug said in May the company ultimately may face more than 100,000 such suits. Bloomberg
Thomas Cona, a Vietnam War veteran who took Vioxx over a two-year period for lower-back pain, claims the drug caused his heart attack. Merck has said there is some risk of heart attack or stroke after at least 18 months of Vioxx use. Cona will be represented by Mark Lanier, the Texas lawyer who won the first case, which produced a $253 million verdict against Merck.
At Cona’s trial, scheduled for February 27 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Merck will have to persuade jurors that Cona wasn’t at risk notwithstanding its statements or that something other than Vioxx caused his heart attack, lawyers said.
Merck, the world’s third-largest drugmaker, is defending about 7,000 Vioxx lawsuits. “The plaintiffs already have part of their case established,” said Arnold Levin, a partner in Philadelphia’s Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, who represents federal Vioxx claimants and isn’t involved in the New Jersey case.
Merck will also have to explain the December 8 disclosure by a scholarly journal that the company withheld three heart attack cases from a study about risks to patients who took the drug.
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck has set aside $675 million to fight Vioxx claims. A judge overseeing federal cases filed over the drug said in May the company ultimately may face more than 100,000 such suits. Bloomberg
posted by Chris Placitella at 6:40 AM
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