NJ jury votes for Merck & Co on Vioxx

In the latest liability case concerning US pharmaceutical major Merck & Co's former blockbuster COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx (rofecoxib), withdrawn in September 2004 (Marketletters passim), a New Jersey state court jury found in favor of the company, rejecting the claims of a patient who blamed her heart attack on nearly three years use of the drug. This means that the company will not have to pay punitive damages.

The five-to-two verdict, which came on July 13, marks the third time in four cases that a New Jersey jury voted against the plaintiff's product liability claim, and the news lifted Merck's share price $0.24 to $36.94. This is the seventh case that has gone to trial. An eighth is currently under way in Los Angeles, the company noted.

The 68-year-old plaintiff, Elaine Doherty, before taking Vioxx, had multiple risk factors, including high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and was obese. She had been taking 25mg of the drug from June 2001 until she suffered a heart attack in January 2004.