A US federal jury in New Orleans has found that pharmaceutical giant Merck was negligent and knowingly made misrepresentations about its withdrawn pain medicine Vioxx.
It said adequate compensation would be $50m to plaintiff Gerald Barnett, a retired FBI agent who suffered a heart attack in 2002 after taking Vioxx for 31 months for pain caused by a car accident.
The jury, which said that doctors in the case and the 62-year-old plaintiff himself were not at fault, said that Merck had knowingly misrepresented or failed to disclose a material fact to Barnett's physicians. The jury has not yet decided on punitive damages in the case.
The panel ruled against Merck on two of three central questions posed. It said Merck was negligent in failing to adequately warn the doctors about the risks of Vioxx and that such negligence was a legal cause of injury.
It also reached found that Merck knowingly misrepresented or failed to disclose a material fact to Barnett's physicians when it was required to do so.
Merck has now has lost four cases and won five in its defence of Vioxx.
