Lawyer Blasts Merck in Closing Arguments

August 17, 2005

Closing arguments commenced today in the nation's first Vioxx-related civil trial. Plaintiff's attorney, Mark Lanier, accused defendant drug maker, Merck, of hiding clinical evidence indicating that Vioxx posed life-threatening risks. Lanier told the jury that "we've seen a decade of deception by Merck."

Merck's lawyers contended that the company had done nothing wrong, claiming that "Merck acted responsibly, from researching Vioxx prior to approval in studies with almost 10,000 patients, to monitoring the medicine while it was on the market, to voluntarily withdrawing the medicine when it did." Kent Jarrell, spokesman for Merck's defense team, argued that Merck "based [its] decisions on the data from well controlled clinical trials."

Over the course of the trial, Lanier presented internal Merck documents indicating that company scientists were concerned about serious Vioxx side effects long before Vioxx was recalled. Lanier asserted that Merck failed to provide data to the FDA, introduced Vioxx to the public prematurely, lied in its promotions of the drug, and ignored critics who expressed serious concerns about health risks.

An autopsy report showed that the plaintiff's husband died of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. The defense emphasized that there are no medical studies linking Vioxx with arrhythmia, though Merck studies show Vioxx to lead to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke. Despite the medical examiner's report, Lanier tried to establish that the death was due to cardiac arrest, a side effect more easily attributed to the drug. If Merck is found liable, the company may be required to pay the plaintiff for financial losses she suffered because of her husband's death and even punitive damages. Lanier advised the jury to award the plaintiff $200,00 to $400,000 in economic damages.