Merck agrees to settle some Vioxx cases
Exactly as we had predicted, Merck has now announced that it will settle some Vioxx cases out of court. The company’s general counsel, Ken Frazier, said in an interview that Merck would consider settling suits brought by people who (i) took Vioxx for long periods of time and (ii) had few other risk factors for heart disease. (Related article: Merck has refused to settle cases out of court in the past)
Since the company lost the first trial in Angleton, Texas, the company has continued to attack Vioxx users. In statement after statement, the company has aggressively defended itself and criticized the jury, the judge, and Mark Lanier. It is also planning to fight the Carol Ernst vs. Merck case as far as it can.
But the announcement that it will settle the case amounts of several (indirect) admissions by the company:
- Our strategy of fighting each lawsuit is not going to work considering that we already have 5,000 or so lawsuit and growing.
- Where are we going to come up with all those billions of dollars in liabilities?
- The stock market does not believe anything we say. The stock has been in free fall since the withdrawal of Vioxx.
- If we fight these lawsuits one by one, we might as well turn Merck into a law firm and forget about developing drugs.
- The paper trail is hurting us – looks like we have to agree now that Vioxx did kill people.
Any company would be afraid of admitting at this stage that they want to settle with everyone who files a lawsuit and Frazier said so. “We have no interest into entering into any kind of broad global settlement,” he said. However, by admitting that Vioxx did hurt people, Merck is clearly admitting that it can no longer claim complete innocence. Merck’s internal documents are being used by plaintiffs to prove that it did hide risks from everyone. But the company still wants to discourage Vioxx victims to file more lawsuits.
Vioxx patients who meet the criteria set by Merck may want to discuss their options with their attorneys. An out of court settlement will not only benefit Merck but will also be a great help to patients who have suffered a lot of pain after taking Vioxx.
Related article: More trouble ahead for Merck
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.