Vioxx plaintiff awarded $9m in punitive damages
The damages are in addition to $4.5m (€3.7m) already awarded to John McDarby, 77, of Park Ridge, who suffered a heart attack after four years on Vioxx, a painkiller taken by 20 million Americans before being pulled off the market.
In its only other loss in a Vioxx case, Merck was ordered last August to pay $253m (€208m) to the widow of a man who died after taking the drug for a short time.
That amount will be reduced because the law in Texas limits punitive damages.
The drug company said it would appeal yesterday's decision, which capped a five-week trial that combined two cases: that of Mr McDarby, a retired insurance agent who took the drug for four years, and Thomas Cona, 60.
Mr Cona said he took the drug for 22 months before his 2003 heart attack, but he couldn't prove it. His prescription records showed only enough for about seven months' use, and the six-woman, two-man jury rejected his claim that Vioxx was to blame.
In both, the jury said Merck misrepresented the risks of Vioxx and concealed them from prescribing physicians.
The trial - the sixth over Merck's painkiller - was the first involving people alleging use of 18 months or more. That is important because the study that prompted Merck to voluntarily withdraw the drug found that its risks doubled after 18 months' use.
The jury could have awarded Mr McDarby $22.5m (€18.5m) in punitive damages, or up to five times the amount of the compensatory damages he had been awarded.
The verdict was the first time since New Jersey passed a product liability act in 1995 that a drug company was ordered to pay punitive damages.
