Vioxx jury awards €36m to heart-attack man

US painkiller Vioxx contributed to an Idaho postal worker’s heart attack, a jury in Atlantic City has ruled, reversing the verdict in the man’s first trial and hitting Merck with a total of $47.5m (€36m) in damages.

In one of Merck’s biggest losses over the drug so far, the jurors awarded the man and his wife $20m (€15.1m)s in compensatory damages, then later said Merck should pay $27.5m (€20.8m) in punitive damages.

The verdict in the case of Frederick “Mike” Humeston, who was granted a second trial in light of new evidence, means Merck has now won nine cases and lost five in the mushrooming litigation over its former blockbuster arthritis pill.

Mr Humeston, 61, of Boise, Idaho, suffered a heart attack in September 2001, several months before Merck – under pressure from federal regulators – put a stronger warning about the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx on the drug’s detailed package insert.

Humeston, a decorated Vietnam veteran, had taken Vioxx intermittently for knee pain from a shrapnel wound.

The five-man, three-woman jury ruled on March 2 that Merck was negligent and did not provide adequate warning about those risks before Humeston’s heart attack.

That set the stage for a second phase of the trial, with the jury last week hearing evidence on whether Vioxx contributed to Humeston’s heart attack, entitling him to damages.

The jurors, after deliberating for about five hours over two days, awarded Humeston $18m (€13.6m) in compensatory damages for pain and suffering and gave $2m (€1.5m) to his wife, Mary.

Then, after brief arguments over punitive damages, the jury deliberated briefly late yesterday afternoon and decided to assess $27.5m (€20.8m) in punitive damages against Merck.

“This is why you keep fighting,” said Mr Humeston’s lawyer, Christopher Seeger. “A little guy from Idaho took on Merck and beat them big time.”

If the verdict and damage amounts are upheld, it could be the biggest hit to Merck so far.

In the only Vioxx case with a larger verdict – $51m (€38.6m) awarded last August to Gerald Barnett of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – US District Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans ordered a new trial on the amount of damages, calling the total “grossly excessive”.