Merck may settle in Vioxx damages dispute

A British law firm representing people who took the painkiller Vioxx today welcomed news that the pharmaceutical giant Merck may settle.

The drug’s link to heart attacks and strokes has spawned thousands of lawsuits and a £140m (€205m) damages award by a jury in Texas last week.

Lawyers, from MSB Solicitors in Liverpool, have submitted clients’ medical records to United States doctors in an attempt to sue Merck.

Cardiovascular specialists in America will decide whether there is a link between the drug and health problems.

If a positive link is established, the file will be passed to US lawyers who will begin the legal battle.

Shares in Merck fell by almost 9% after jurors in Texas awarded Robert Ernst’s widow, Carol, damages last Friday in the first of what could be as many as 4,200 similar lawsuits worldwide.

As recently as Wednesday company lawyers were still saying they planned to fight each personal-injury lawsuit.

On Thursday morning, New Jersey-based Merck said that as of August 15 it faced nearly 5,000 lawsuits alleging patients were harmed by the drug – nearly 600 more cases than in its prior update five weeks earlier.

The total includes about 150 potential class-action suits that could include many plaintiffs.

Vioxx was hailed as a breakthrough in pain relief when it was launched because it did not have the same side-effects as other drugs.

The drug, which is used to treat arthritis, was taken off the market at the end of last September after the three-year trial linking it to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The drug is known to have been taken by 20 million people worldwide before it was banned.