Dates set for Vioxx trials in New Jersey

Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee has set February 27, 2006 as the date for the consolidated trial to start in lawsuits filed by Thomas Cona and John McDarby. They both took Vioxx for more than two years before each suffered heart attacks.

Merck did not want a consolidated trial and had argued in favor of independent trials. The company had also argued agaist Judge Higbee's order to try some of those cases first in which the victim had taken the drug for more than 18 months.

And to make matters worse for the drugmaker, Cona's family is being represented by Mark Lanier, the same Vioxx lawyer who scored the first win against Merck in the lawsuit filed by Carol Ernst.