US pharmaceutical giant Merck said over the weekend that it will continue to fight to prove its innocence after a Texas jury found it guilty in a wrongful death case brought by the widow of a man who died after using its blockbuster arthritis painkiller Vioxx.
On Friday, a Texas jury awarded damages totalling more than $253m to Carol Ernst, whose 59-year-old triathlete husband Robert died in May 2001 from heart failure after using Vioxx to treat pain in his hands.
The stunning total levied by the jury in the first of many Vioxx lawsuits included $229m in punitive damages for liability, negligence and malice.
The company swiftly said it would appeal the lawsuit, and expressed confidence the award would not stand. 'The case presented to the jury by the plaintiff was fundamentally flawed. The jury was allowed to hear testimony that was not based on reliable science and that was irrelevant,' Merck senior vice president and general counsel Kenneth Frazier said in a statement.
'We have strong points to raise on appeal and are hopeful that a higher court will correct the verdict. Even if the verdict were to be upheld, punitive damages under Texas law would be limited to approximately €2m,' he added.
Merck has been deluged with lawsuits around the world since it yanked the $2.5 billion a year seller Vioxx from the market last September after an internal study showed it increased the risk of strokes and heart attacks. The drug was taken by more than 20 million people worldwide before its withdrawal.
A study sponsored by the US Food and Drug Administration estimated that Vioxx could have caused 27,785 heart attacks or deaths since it was approved in 1999. In February, an FDA panel determined that Vioxx did cause possible cardiovascular problems but narrowly voted to allow its return to the market.
Meanwhile, legal experts here say the success of the first lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company Merck in the US is likely to affect the numbers of Irish people suing the company.
Raymond Bradley, the solicitor representing more than 100 people who took Vioxx, said he believes the number of Irish cases will rise dramatically.
