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Merck Loses New Orleans Vioxx Case

August 17, 2006

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A jury has found that Merck's negligence caused the heart attack of a 62-year-old former FBI agent. It's the fourth loss for Merck, which has won five trials. About 14,000 lawsuits were filed after the company took the painkiller off the market.

In the latest case, a federal jury in New Orleans awarded $51 million to Gerald Barnett, who suffered a heart attack after taking the drug for more than four years.

Barnett had charged that Merck failed to adequately warn doctors that Vioxx increase the risk of heart attack.

Last month, a jury in New Jersey sided with the pharmaceutical giant, saying it was not responsible for the heart attack suffered by a woman who had been taking the popular arthritis drug.

In the New Jersey case, the jury also concluded that Merck failed to provide adequate warnings to the 68-year old plaintiff about possible health risks from taking Vioxx. But the jurors said that, alone, was not enough to find against the company.

At issue was whether Vioxx caused the woman's heart attack, and the jury concluded that the evidence did not establish that it did.

In New Orleans, the jury deliberated for about four hours before concluding that Merck was responsible for Barnett's 2002 heart attack.

Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2004 after clinical trials linked the drug to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke among people taking it.

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