Vioxx News

 

Merck: More than 44,000 in line for Vioxx settlement

-Bloomberg

03/05/2008 - Merck & Co. Inc. said yesterday that more than 44,000 plaintiffs who sued the company over its withdrawn Vioxx painkiller had submitted initial information seeking payment for injuries under a $4.85 billion settlement.

If the information is verified, it means 93 percent of those eligible for payments have submitted material. That would exceed the required 85 percent threshold under a November settlement covering four categories of claims: heart attacks, strokes, deaths, and harm from long-term use.

"We are very pleased with the large number of enrollments we are seeing and are confident that when the enrollments are verified, all 85 percent thresholds will be met and exceeded within the time frames in the agreement," Ted Mayer, an attorney for Merck said in the statement.

Merck, the third-largest U.S. drugmaker, spent $1.2 billion fighting 26,500 lawsuits over claims Vioxx caused cardiovascular injuries before the company withdrew the drug in 2004. The Whitehouse Station, N.J., company fought each case that went to trial since 2005, winning 11 of 16 and refusing to pay those it lost while appealing the verdicts.

In settling with plaintiffs' lawyers, Merck agreed to pay as much as $4 billion to heart attack victims and $850 million to stroke victims. Lawyers said about 29,000 heart attack victims and 17,000 stroke victims who blamed their injuries on Vioxx are eligible for compensation.

Brown Greer P.L.C., a Richmond, Va., law firm must verify that those who filed information had heart attacks or strokes, took at least 30 Vioxx pills, and took the medicine within 14 days of their injuries.

 

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