MSD to face nationwide lawsuit following appeal rejection

The appeals court that has been hearing the MSD response to the Vioxx lawsuit has said that the company will face a nationwide lawsuit, not individual hearings in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

A group class-action lawsuit will now be brought against the New Jersey-based company, which was filed by health maintenance organisations, insurers and unions and concerns allegations that MSD misrepresented the safety of Vioxx.

Approximately 10,000 lawsuits have been filed against the company, mostly by people claiming injury following the use of Vioxx, Bloomberg reports. MSD had been hoping to defend the cases individually and will appeal now to the supreme court.

“We believe there are very strong reasons why the state supreme court should take this case,” said Merck attorney Ted Mayer of Hughes Hubbard & Reed in New York, according to Bloomberg.

“We really think that each individual case has to be decided individually.”

The case has already seen a former MSD doctor claim that the reason Vioxx appeared dangerous was because other non-steroid anti-inflammatories protected the heart.

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