An article in today’s Dallas Morning News quotes financial analysts as saying pressure may grow on Merck to start settling Vioxx claims, rather than fight every one in court. Here’s a quote from the article:
In the next three months, Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, is scheduled to defend at least three more trials of lawsuits that allege Vioxx caused heart ailments in users. In the Atlantic City case, set to start Sept. 12, former U.S. Marine Frederick Humeston claims the drug caused his heart attack in 2001.
“If they lose these next three cases, Merck will be in deep trouble,” said Michael Kelly, a lawyer with McCarter & English, a Newark, New Jersey, firm that represents drugmakers such as AstraZeneca Plc. “They will have given the plaintiffs a road map on how to successfully try these cases, and the pressure for a global settlement of these suits will start to grow.”
