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VIOXX - Texas jury awards $32 million to Vioxx plaintiff after finding Merck liable. Merck ordered to pay $32 million in damages

Friday April 21, 2006

[JURIST] A Texas state jury on Friday found Merck liable for the death of a 71-year-old man who died from a heart attack within a month of taking Merck's painkiller Vioxx Vioxx in the sixth Vioxx case to reach a verdict. The jury ordered Merck to pay $32 million in damages to the family of Leonel Garza - $7 million in non-economic compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages - but the damages award will likely be reduced to correspond with state limits. The Texas trial commenced at the end of January. Merck plans to appeal on the grounds that there is no proven link between heart problems and the use of Vioxx for less than 18 months. Merck pulled the drug from the market in September 2004 after a study showed that it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for more than 18 months. Merck's attorneys doubt that Garza took the drug for more than a week before his heart attack. Plaintiff's attorneys in Garza's case and other cases contend that Merck was aware of the dangers of Vioxx by 2000, but continued to sell it because of its profitability.

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