Merck Settles Vioxx Lawsuits For $4.85 Bil

New York Times:

Three years after withdrawing its pain medication Vioxx from the market, Merck has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits by people who claim they or their family members suffered injury or died after taking the drug, according to two lawyers with direct knowledge of the matter.

The settlement, one of the largest ever in civil litigation, comes after nearly 20 Vioxx civil trials over the last two years from New Jersey to California. After losing a $253 million verdict in the first case, Merck has won most of the rest of the cases that reached juries, giving plaintiffs little choice but to settle.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[kellygrrrl]

02:25 PM on 11/10/2007

is there any other nation in the world that has a "pill" for every little thing?

what the hell is "Restless Leg Syndrome" and how bad would it have to be to open yourself to the side-effects of the little pill they're now advertising?

[emerywood]

06:36 PM on 11/09/2007

ANOTHER 5 BILLION DOLLARS HAVE JUST BEEN ADDED TO MY ( AND YOUR ) FUTURE MEDICATION BILLS !

[crashingtiger]

06:15 PM on 11/09/2007

Why is this company STILL allowed to do business? Oh right...nevermind.

[maca]

03:02 PM on 11/09/2007

27,000 people dead or injured from this poison, and yet MARIJUANA is illegal. Why? Because it's an easily grown plant which the big pharmaceutical companies can't patent.

The government keeps telling you they've banned marijuana to protect you. They've banned it to protect drug company profits from unwanted competition, period.

[xqqme]

01:25 PM on 11/09/2007

When will people realize that we are just labatory rats fro these companies..the FDA looks the other way and does not care. Learn more at mercola,com or newstarget.com..these guys tell it like it IS!

[RaisingAwareness]

01:22 PM on 11/09/2007

Vioxx is just one of many dangerous drugs that were/are allowed to be sold to the unaware public. The website below has over 1900 articles pertaining to many of the most popular psychiatric drugs and the horrific effects they've had upon innocent individuals and society in general. This list is just a fraction of the tragedies these drugs have caused. Please take a look and then take action.


HTTP://WWW.SSRISTORIES.COM/INDEX.PHP

[gappytoofcondi]

09:04 AM on 11/09/2007

The sick part of this is that it will not put an end to the ability of the FDA to continue to be coerced by Big Pharma into putting products on the market that are not safe.

Merck will dispense some of it's petty cash to pay up.

[olivine]

08:11 AM on 11/09/2007

If Vioxx had been a herb instead of a pharmaceutical, The FDA would have closed all of the Health Food stores by now.And, as Bill Maher is always saying, marijuana hasn't killed anyone yet, so why isn't THAT legal?Even for medical use? My aunt has cancer, and not one drug that docs have given her for nausea and no appetite have worked, even the tiniest bit.I will definately be visiting our local high school to get her herbal relief, when that time comes.