Merck Faces Challenges After First Vioxx Defeat

Summary

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LAKE JACKSON, Texas -- Drugmaker Merck & Co.'s blistering defeat in the nation's first Vioxx trial was only round one in a series of expected court battles in the coming months, many of them involving plaintiffs who have some major advantages.

The link between the patients' health problems and Vioxx is already well established. They suffered heart attacks; Merck yanked the drug from the market last year because a study showed it doubled patients' risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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Extract

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Merck Faces Challenges After First Vioxx Defeat

In contrast, Carol Ernst's lawyer in last week's lawsuit had to link Vioxx to heart arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, the condition that killed Ernst's husband. Doing that required a lot of complicated medi...

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