Merck to Pay $4.85 Billion to VIOXX Claimants
Pharmaceutical Company Merck & Co. announced an “agreement” of $4.85 billion for pending personal injury suits concerning complications from the arthritis painkiller VIOXX, according to the Associated Press. The decision comes as a surprise to many, since Merck officials announced as recently as last month that the company planned to argue each case individually in court.
The agreement will become official if 85% of the plaintiffs in about 26,000 lawsuits (including 265 class action suits) agree to drop their cases and accept financial compensation.
VIOXX, released in 1999, was wildly popular as a pain reliever for sufferers of arthritis. Merck shocked the country by removing the drug from the market in late 2004, while it was still in its heyday, because of scientific evidence that the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Though Merck maintained that VIOXX was only potentially harmful to those who had used it for more than 18 months, scientists generally dismissed this claim. An estimated 80,000-140,000 heart attacks and strokes have been attributed to the drug, some of which were fatal.
To qualify for receiving settlement money, claimants must have filed their cases by November 8th and have proof that they ingested at least 30 pills, that they suffered a heart attack or stroke, and that they began taking the pills at least two weeks prior to the injury. Individual payments will depend on severity of injury and length of time the drug was used.
A defense attorney on the case is reportedly pleased with the decision, which he believes is the largest in the history of the industry. Merck is apparently emphasizing that this is not a class action settlement, but an “agreement,” a distinction which allows the company to admit no fault.
Early predictions suggested that Merck could face $50 billion dollars in legal costs if it chose to argue all the cases pending.