19 août, 2005 12:12

Update 7: Vioxx Jury Ends First Day of Deliberations

08.19.2005, 05:24 AM

Jurors in the nation's first Vioxx-related civil trial ended their first day of deliberation after seven hours Thursday and were to resume Friday.

A little more than an hour into deliberations, the panel requested copies of several documents admitted into evidence during the trial. Lawyers delivered those and all the other hundreds of documents admitted into evidence.

The first case to go to trial among more than 4,200 lawsuits has drawn national attention as the first test of the legal fate of the drug's maker, Merck & Co. Analysts have speculated Merck's liability could reach $18 billion.

In the Texas case, the lawyer for plaintiff Carol Ernst, suggested to jurors Wednesday that mental anguish and loss of companionship damages for his client could reach $229 million or more.

He said Merck reaped that amount from selling Vioxx in the four months leading to the February 2002 addition of cardiovascular warnings on the drug's label. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had suggested such changes in October 2001 in light of a 2000 study that showed Vioxx users suffered five times as many heart attacks as those who took the older painkiller naproxen.

In Texas, punitive damages are capped at twice the amount of economic damages - such as lost wages - and up to $750,000 on top of non-economic damages, such as mental anguish and loss of companionship. But the non-economic damages have no limits in this case.

Merck launched Vioxx in 1999 as a pain reliever that cut the risk of stomach bleeding by inhibiting a blood-thinning enzyme. Last year the company pulled what grew into a $2.5 billion seller from the market after a study showed it could double risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer.

Some 20 million people took Vioxx.

Carol Ernst alleges Vioxx triggered the death of her husband, Robert, 59, after he took the drug for eight months.

Merck counters that the company acted responsibly, disclosed research and believed Vioxx to be safe until the study last year prompted its withdrawal.

The company has relied heavily on Ernst's autopsy report, which attributes his death to an arrhythmia secondary to clogged arteries. The company says no studies link Vioxx to arrhythmia, so the drug couldn't have caused his death.