St. Louis Vioxx Lawyers

Missouri Drugs Side Effects Attorneys

VIOXX®

Vioxx® was a nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat symptoms of osteoarthritis, acute pain, and painful menstrual cycles. The use of NSAID's is associated in some patients with serious problems from stomach ulcers, including bleeding. NSAID medications are also associated with liver damage in some patients. There were also assertions that Merck was aware of problems experienced by patients taking Vioxx® , including the previously mentioned problems with stomach ulcers and liver damage, but also including heart problems and kidney damage. They allege that Merck deliberately suppressed information about these side effects from patients and physicians.

In September, 2004, Merck announced that it was voluntarily recalling Vioxx® from the market. This decision followed a test intended to show that Vioxx® could help prevent colon polyps, but which indicated that Vioxx® users were more likely to suffer heart attacks or strokes as compared to subjects receiving a placebo.

On Nov. 9, 2007 Merck & Co., Inc. entered into an agreement with representatives of the law firms that comprised the executive committee of the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee of the federal multidistrict Vioxx® litigation, as well as representatives of plaintiffs' counsel in state coordinated proceedings, to resolve state and federal myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke claims already filed against the Company in the United States. The Company paid a fixed amount of $4.85 billion into a settlement fund for qualifying claims that entered into the resolution process. This was not a class-action settlement and Claims were evaluated on an individual basis. At the time registration of claims was complete in January, 2008 over 58,000 claims had been registered.