Merck & Co might consider settling some lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx, whose links to heart trouble have spawned thousands of lawsuits and a $253-million jury verdict, a spokesperson for the company’s legal team said on Friday.
The company has previously said it would fight all personal-injury litigation over the drug’s harmful side effects.
“Certainly we will make reasonable decisions about how to proceed in defending each one of those cases,” spokesperson Kent Jarrell said, adding that Merck has “no intention of entering into any kind of global settlement”.
Merck’s general counsel, Kenneth C Frazier, told The New York Times in Friday’s editions that Merck will consider settling suits brought by people who took Vioxx for long periods of time and had few other risk factors for heart disease.
New Jersey-based Merck pulled Vioxx from the market nearly a year ago when a study showed it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer.
Lawyers involved in a Vioxx case in federal court in New Orleans said at a hearing on Thursday that nearly 5 000 lawsuits have been filed against Merck, and the number is growing. A trial starts in New Jersey state court next month, followed by the federal case in New Orleans in November.
A jury in Texas last week awarded $253,4-million in damages to the widow of Bob Ernst, who died in 2001 of irregular heart beat, or arrhythmia, after taking Vioxx for eight months.
The bulk of the verdict, $229-million, was punitive damages, which are capped under Texas law. After the caps are applied, the award won’t exceed $26,1-million.
Merck has said it will appeal. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press writer Adam Nossiter contributed to this report from New Orleans