Merck faces ongoing claims after Texan ruling on rofecoxib

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7515.471

BMJ 2005;331:471 (3 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7515.471

News

Merck faces ongoing claims after Texan ruling on rofecoxib

Janice Hopkins Tanne

New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The drug company Merck may face thousands of lawsuits over itscyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitor rofecoxib (Vioxx) after losing acourt case concerning the death from an arrhythmia of a fit59 year old man from Texas who was taking the drug. The juryawarded his widow $253.4m (£140m; ${euro}$ 206m)—$24.4m foreconomic loss and emotional anguish and $229m in punitive damages.However, the award will be reduced under Texan law to about$26m. Merck has said it will appeal.

Robert Ernst, who died in his sleep inMay 2001, had taken rofecoxib (Vioxx) for eight months

Credit:ERNST FAMILY/AP/EMPICS

But Merck faces at least 4200 state and federal lawsuits inthe United States by people or their relatives who say theywere harmed by the drug.

People elsewhere—the United Kingdom and other Europeancountries, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Brazil—arealso planning lawsuits. About 400 000 people in the UK are reported. . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Tanne, J. H. (2006). Court awards claimant $13.5m in rofecoxib lawsuit. BMJ 332: 927-927 [Full text]
Tanne, J. H. (2005). Journal criticises Vioxx study for omitting three heart attacks. BMJ 331: 1423-1423 [Full text]
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