Merck faces huge bill after widow wins $250m

[Guest guest]

" Zeus " <info

Merck faces huge bill after widow wins $250m

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 00:12:01 +0100

 

Times Online

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9068-1742923,00.html

 

August 20, 2005

 

Merck faces huge bill after widow wins $250m

Vioxx claim

By Caroline Merrell

 

 

MERCK, the American drug company, is facing potential legal claims of

$18 billion (£10 billion) after a court in Texas awarded $253.4

million in damages to a widow whose husband died after taking Vioxx,

the painkiller.

 

Shares in the company dropped more than 4 per cent after the jury

reached the verdict over the death of Bob Ernst, who died in 2001 of

heart arrhythmia, or irregular heart beat, after taking Vioxx for

eight months. Merck plans to appeal against the judgment.

 

(Zeus comment: I have the newspaper article by Caroline Merrell in

front of me right here and it says 'Shares in the company fell nearly

8 per cent to close at $28.06 after the jury reached the verdict...'.

So it shows how a little pressure was perhaps put on Times Online to

change the figure - unless of course it is a typing error but in the

newspaper version it has the share price as well! The rest of the

article is identical in both online and printed versions).

 

Merck took the popular pain reliever off the market last September,

after a study found that it doubled patients' risks of heart attacks

and strokes after 18 months of use.

 

Last night's surprise decision by a state court in Angleton, Texas, is

especially damaging because the drug company initially had been

expected to win against what was considered to be a weak case.

 

Jason Napodano, an analyst with Zacks Investment Research, said that

many people on Vioxx with cardiovascular problems would be likely to

file a lawsuit. More than 4,000 cases have been filed so far. Merck

has set aside $675 million to fight the lawsuits.

 

Mr Napondano said: " A Merck loss means that the number of cases

against them increases tenfold. "

 

Mark Lanier, the plaintiff's lawyer, told the jury that Bob Ernst, the

plaintiff's late husband, had died of a heart attack. Maria Araneta,

who performed Ernst's post-mortem examination in 2001, testified that

although her report had said that Ernst had died of an arrhythmia, it

was likely that he had suffered a heart attack. Dr Araneta said that

Ernst probably had suffered a heart attack because a clot blocked the

bloodflow in an artery that was already clogged with plaque.

 

Benjamin Zipursky, a professor at Fordham University School of Law in

New York, said: " A Merck loss means the jury believes the plaintiff's

story about the company's wrongful conduct. That carries into the future. "

 

The damages award combines Ernst's lost pay as a produce manager for

Wal-Mart, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages.

He was 59 when he died.

 

Next month, Merck faces a trial in Atlantic City, New Jersey, brought

by Michael Humeston, a former postal worker who had a heart attack in

2001.

 

In November, the first of 1,800 federal cases will be heard in New

Orleans. The case concerns Richard Irvin, a Florida man who was taking

Vioxx for a month before his death in 2001 from a blood clot in his heart.

 

Scientists have speculated that Vioxx causes cardiovascular problems

because it blocks a substance that keeps blood from clotting.

___