Class action approved against Vioxx

A Canadian court recently authorized a class action suit against Merck & Co over its Vioxx painkiller without including the ``vast majority'' of users who took the medicine and didn't claim injuries, the company said.



Justice Andre Denis of the Quebec Superior Court of Justice ruled a class action may not be able to handle individual claims, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck's Merck Frosst unit said in a statement sent by Canada Newswire today. In a separate statement, Merck's opponents described it as the first consumer class action against Vioxx in North America.

Merck has argued each case should be heard individually. It faces about 23,800 cases over the painkiller. Vowing to go to trial rather than settle out of court, thus far Merck has won five Vioxx cases and lost four.

"Although we would have preferred that no class be authorized, Merck has the right to move to de-authorize the class at a later date,'' Andre J. Payeur, the company's lawyer, said in the statement.

Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004 after a study showed it doubled the risk of a heart attack. It has set aside $1.6 billion to fight lawsuits over the drug.
 

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