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Previous trials were at state level.

Clark's Merck Puts Up Defense In First Federal Trial

Parmy Olson, 12.07.05, 5:56 PM ET

LONDON - They say the best defense is a good offense, but in its first federal trial involving painkiller Vioxx, Merck has been on the back foot amid the accusation that it misled doctors and the public about the drug.

Evelyn Irvin Plunkett is suing the pharmaceutical giant, led by Chief Executive Richard Clark, on the grounds that the painkiller caused the death of her husband, 53-year-old Richard "Dicky" Irvin. But Merck) maintains that problems with Vioxx can surface after prolonged use, not after the one month that Irvin took the drug.

The trial Wednesday saw Dr. Alice Reicin, vice president of Merck's clinical research, insist that when the company had made public reassurances about the safety of Vioxx through several statements, "we were telling the public what we believed." Warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2001 and a respected medical journal, however, seemed to do little to dent Merck's conviction in its own research, which concluded that the drug was safe. It was finally in 2004, after a long-term study, that the company concluded that Vioxx did double the risk of heart attack or stroke after 18 months of use, and recalled the drug. Aiming to further discredit Irvin's case has been Dr. Thomas M. Wheeler, of Baylor College of Medicine, who said Richard Irvin's sudden death was caused by plaque and heart disease.

The Vioxx controversy has already put Merck through two state trials, in one of which it recently triumphed. But with 7,000 more lawsuits to face, the drugs giant will no doubt be preparing itself for a potential plethora of payouts.

7,000 seems the magic number for Merck, though. In its new ""--a culling of 7,000 jobs--it will generate total cost savings of up to $4 billion by 2010.