US judge rules Merck won’t face “punitive damages” in first Fosamax case

doi:10.1136/bmj.b3225

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Ray Moynihan

¹Melbourne

A district court judge in the United States has ruled that the drug maker Merck will not face the risk of “punitive damages” in the first case to be tried involving its widely prescribed osteoporosis drug, Fosamax (alendronate or alendronic acid).

The trial was scheduled to open on Tuesday in New York before Judge John Keenan, and the first case involves Shirley Boles, a woman from Florida who first took the drug in 1997.

Ms Boles is part …