Posted on 02/25/2006 8:33:59 PM PST by chet_in_ny
Merck & Co. Inc. is seeking to sever the cases of two plaintiffs that a judge plans to try together in the Vioxx trial set to begin Monday in Atlantic City.
While both plaintiffs allege to have suffered heart attacks after taking the drug for more than two years before, the drug maker argues that the facts, witness testimony and scientific and marketing evidence presented by each would confuse jurors to Merck's disadvantage.
Merck's lawyers say the "threshold difference ... has to do with the length of each man's Vioxx usage." They argue that plaintiff Thomas Cona's pharmaceutical records show he was given less than five months of Vioxx prescriptions, while co-plaintiff John McDarby refilled his prescription every month for 48 months.
"Unlike McDarby where the plaintiff's regular prescriptions and length of usage are unlikely to be subject to any significant challenge, .. in Cona there is a glaring contradiction between the amount of Vioxx Mr. Cona says he used and the amount reflected in Mr. Cona's medical records," attorney Hope Friewald writes in a brief supporting Merck's motion. "The inescapable conclusion is that Cona is not a long-term use case at all, and thus should not be tried with McDarby."
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
Stifling pharmaceutical research in the US, one subpoena at a time ...
I'm up 17% in the stock since the Texas trial. This is a pure speculation stock at the moment. If they can get these lawsuits pared down, there could be a nice jump in the price.
This company makes a lot of cash and has a new diabetes drug in the pipeline. Might be a good investment for the long run if the trial lawyers don't deliver too much damage
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