Shares in Vioxx maker ease by 2%

SHARES in the embattled pharmaceutical company Merck eased back by just over 2% yesterday, the first day of trading since a US court awarded the family of a man who died from taking its flagship drug Vioxx, €207 million in damages.

Shares in Merck have fallen by more than a third, wiping some €25 billion from its value, since the drug - which was one of the best-selling painkillers - was withdrawn from the market late last year.

Last Friday a court in Texas awarded the massive damaged to the Carol Ernst, whose 59-year-old husband Robert died suddenly after using Vioxx for eight months.