Vioxx Lawsuit Information

Vioxx lawsuit

Vioxx was supposed to be the ’super aspirin’ that would relieve pain safely.

Instead, Vioxx was recalled because it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

For a Vioxx lawsuit, you will need a law firm with a proven record of success in the Vioxx litigation. Weitz & Luxenberg is the law firm that won the second lawsuit against Merck for a Vioxx heart attack victim in Atlantic City, a jury verdict of $13.5 Million.

An experienced Vioxx lawyer/attorney from Weitz & Luxenberg can help you file a lawsuit to get compensation for your injuries. We’ll worry about the legal deadlines; you focus on feeling better. Our short form below will start the process.

Vioxx Victims

Merck & Co. has estimated 20 million Americans have used its arthritis and pain-relief drug Vioxx during its stay on the market and is unsure how many people worldwide have used the popular drug.

When Merck made the announcement September 30, 2004 that it was removing Vioxx from the shelves, a potentially high number of Vioxx victims were left wondering if adequate steps had been taken to ensure the safety of patients. In recent years, troubling events have left patients leery of the drug industry and wondering if federal regulators are too passive in enforcing safety measures. The Vioxx recall is the latest event to bring focus and criticism on both the drug industry and the FDA, and Vioxx victims are determined to fight back.

Vioxx’s safety appears to never have been fully established, and Vioxx victims wonder how the drug was able to remain on the market for as long as it did. Launched in May 1999, Vioxx is part of a relatively new class of NSAID drugs (like aspirin and ibuprofen) called COX-2 inhibitors. The lure to allowing Vioxx onto the market was not because they were more effective than classic NSAIDs, but because they were less likely to cause bleeding and other digestive tract complications. Now Vioxx victims are wondering if an older NSAID drug would have been just as effective and a much safer treatment option than Vioxx.

The FDA initially required Merck to include the same digestive warning as NSAIDs. When Merck launched a trial comparing Vioxx to a traditional NSAID naproxen in hopes of proving its drug was safer on the digestive tract and should not have to carry the same warning, the trial backfired. The study to prove that Vioxx was associated to fewer digestive tract problems than naproxen was successful, but the study had an unexpected result. It showed that patients taking Vioxx had double the risk of cardiovascular problems compared to those taking naproxen. The Vioxx victims that are alleging cardiovascular events suffered were the result of Vioxx are now questioning Merck’s four and a half year delay from the study results to finally pulling the drug from the market.