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Testimony in first Vioxx case ends

August 16, 2005

Jurors heard the last of the testimony in the nation's first Vioxx-related civil trial, drawing the verdict in the five-week case closer. State District Judge Ben Hardin told jurors they would hear closing arguments from attorneys on both sides Wednesday.

The Vioxx case has generated high national attention from drug companies, lawyers, consumers and analysts trying to predict what lies ahead for Vioxx maker Merck & Co., who has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending.

Prudential analyst Timothy Anderson, who is also a physician, said that the odds are against Merck. Carol Ernst sued Merck charging her husband Robert suddenly died in 2001 after taking Vioxx for eight months to relieve pain in his hands.

Ernst's death certificate listed arrhythmia even though the described marathon runner had no history of the condition. Merck recalled Vioxx last September after a study showed it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer, and Merck argued there is no evidence linking Vioxx to arrhythmia.

A pharmacologist, Dr. Benedict Lucchesi, testified for the plaintiff's side and returned to the witness stand to rebut testimony on Merck's behalf saying Ernst's clogged arteries caused his death from arrhythmia, not Vioxx. Lucchesi has studied arrhythmias for 50 years and testified Vioxx "contributed significantly" to Ernst's death, and Vioxx inhibits the body's natural ability to thin the blood, which can lead to the formation of blood clots.

Lucchesi reiterated his theory that a Vioxx induced clot could have dissolved or been dislodged, preventing the pathologist who performed the autopsy from finding it.

While noting she knew little about Vioxx in 2001 and failing to say the drug was responsible, the pathologist who performed Ernst's autopsy said that vigorous CPR could have dislodged a clot that could have led to a heart attack she said more than likely caused the fatal arrhythmia.

Anderson wrote in his note that "We think the odds are against Merck, and that share price could contract more than 5%, but less than 10%, if a sizable award is meted out against the company."

For more information on the Vioxx recall, please contact us to confer with a Vioxx Recall Lawyer and learn your legal rights and options.

 

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