Posted on 08/08/2005 1:24:52 PM PDT by The SISU kid
In the latest blow for beleaguered drug maker Merck & Co., a New Jersey judge has ruled that health plans that paid for members' Vioxx prescriptions can sue as a class to recover billions of dollars they spent on the recalled painkiller.
Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee in Atlantic City late Friday granted a motion filed by a labor union health plan to allow a nationwide class-action lawsuit to proceed under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, had opposed the motion, which was filed by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 Welfare Fund.
The union had sued Merck in early 2003, arguing that its health plan would not have covered Vioxx prescriptions but for Merck's deception about the risks of the drug, which cost several times as much as older, traditional anti-inflammatory medicines.
Vioxx, which had peak sales of $2.5 billion annually, was on the market May 1999 through September 2004, when Merck voluntarily withdrew it because research showed the drug increased risk of heart attack and stroke after 18 months' use.
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I wonder if the same union would be kvetching at its insurer had Vioxx come out with lots and lots of warnings, the insurer had declined to cover it, and some of the union members were screaming that nothing else this side of morphine worked for their wicked backaches.
I don't get it. So millions of people used Vioxx and thought it was great. A few died. Those who died, are, of course, going to sue. The millions who used it and thought it was great now also get to sue for their money back? What about the pain that the Vioxx relieved? They should only be allowed to sue if Merck gets to whack their joints with a 2X4 to "recover" the pain releif that the Vioxx users want their money back on.
I googled the judge and couldn't find out how she got her job...any FReepers know?
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