Elaine Doherty fails to win Vioxx case against Merck

In a setback to tens of thousands of Americans whose loved ones died (as many as 60,000 are dead) and others who suffered heart attacks and strokes, a jury in New Jersey did not agree with Elaine Doherty, a homemaker from Lawrenceville, N.J., who claimed that she took VIOXX daily from June 2001, until she suffered a heart attack in January 2004, at the age of 65. She continued to take the medicine until Merck recalled it from the market in September 2004.

This is the seventh case that has gone to trial. Merck has been directed to pay multi-million dollar compensations to Carol Ernst, Leonel Garza, and John McDarby. Thomas Cona, Evelyn Irvin Plunkett, and Mike Humeston lost their cases. An eighth case is currently under way in Los Angeles. Over 13,000 lawsuits are pending against the company and many analysts believe that Merck will lose at least half of them.

This decision shows that victims who have other likely causes for heart problems (like high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity) will have a more difficult task to prove their case. In a series of setbacks to the company, several developments in recent months have shown that Merck lied about the safety of the painkiller and organized a campaign to mislead physicians, the FDA, and patients.