On September 30, 2004, the international prescription drug company Merck announced the worldwide withdrawal of the arthritis medication Rofecoxib, sold in most countries under the brand name Vioxx, because a study showed an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Patients who have suffered injuries due to Vioxx have filed litigation against Merck for failing to recall the drug when it first learned of Vioxx's dangerous side effects.

To contact in confidence an experienced personal injury attorney at Lieff Cabraser working on the Vioxx lawsuit, click here.

The painkiller Vioxx was marketed throughout the world, sold in many countries under the name Vioxx and in others as Ceoxx. Lieff Cabraser is working with attorneys and solicitors in:

Argentina

Austria

Canada

Ireland

Italy

South Africa

United
Kingdom

and other countries to bring litigation against Merck in U.S. courts for patients suffering heart attacks and strokes from Vioxx. If you are visiting this website from outside the U.S., please click here to contact an attorney regarding your experiences with Vioxx or Ceoxx.

Press Articles

2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | Timeline

Below are summaries of press articles on the Vioxx case. For a concise review of the Vioxx controversy and how injured Vioxx and Ceoxx users may obtain compensation, please visit our main page.

December 31, 2003

Biotech Week, "Merck, a textbook case of pharmaceutical industry woes"

          The problems besetting pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. also plague most of its competitors: falling profits, patent expirations, generic competition, the lack of new blockbuster drugs and pressures to make medicines more affordable.
          But the contrast to the heady days and double-digit profit growth of the 1990s is particularly striking at Merck, which has fallen in just a few years from the world's biggest drug maker to No. 3 as competitors merged and leapfrogged ahead.
          "The key to success in this industry is novel medicines and medicines that are priced competitively," said Merck's chairman.
          But this fall Merck canceled testing of the fourth drug in mid- or late-stage development since February, one of which was expected to be its first entrant in the lucrative antidepressant market. Merck also announced an unprecedented layoff of 4400 workers - 7% of its global work force - as part of a drive to make the company more efficient.

December 31, 2003

CBS Market Watch, "Merck seeks OK for new arthritis medication"

          Merck & Co. shares rose Wednesday after the company resubmitted a U.S. marketing application for Arcoxia, a highly anticipated arthritis medication.
          For the year, Merck shares are down 18 percent because of concerns that the drugmaker doesn't have enough new promising medications in development.
          Re-filing of the application, announced late Tuesday, had been expected. Merck CEO Raymond Gilmartin affirmed in early December that the No. 3 pharmaceutical company was on track to resubmit Arcoxia to the Food and Drug Administration before the end of the month.
          Merck had withdrawn the initial application for Arcoxia in March 2002 to gather more information about its potential to treat an inflammatory condition of the spine.
          Arcoxia, which is already available in 38 countries, is seen as the next-generation version of Vioxx, Merck's blockbuster arthritis medication.
          Merck has forecast that combined 2004 sales of Vioxx and Arcoxia will be between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion.

December 30, 2003

AFX News Limited, "Merck seeks OK for new arthritis medication"

Merck & Co. said late Tuesday it had resubmitted to the FDA a marketing application for Arcoxia, an arthritis medication. Merck had withdrawn the initial application for Arcoxia in March 2002 to gather more information about its potential to treat an inflammatory condition of the spine. The No. 3 drugmaker is positioning Arcoxia as the next-generation version of its arthritis blockbuster Vioxx.

December 21, 2003

Heart Disease Weekly, "Inflammation: Vioxx shows no effect on markers of cardiovascular disease"

          In the largest randomized controlled trial yet of the effect of a COX-2 inhibitor on the function of blood vessels and markers of inflammation, including C-reactive protein, rofecoxib (brand name Vioxx) did not appear to have any favorable or adverse effects in patients with coronary artery disease who were receiving low-dose aspirin, according to a new study.
          "I was surprised that rofecoxib had no effect, as I had originally hypothesized that it would both improve endothelial dysfunction and reduce signs of inflammation," said Lawrence M. Title, MD at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. "I was more surprised that we saw no effect on the markers of inflammation, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), given that rofecoxib is an anti-inflammatory drug," he added.
          The study appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Lieff Cabraser: Experienced Product Liability Lawyers

Founded in 1972, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a nearly sixty attorney law firm with offices in San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Beverly Hills, and Nashville. In 2003 and 2004, the National Law Journal recognized Lieff Cabraser as one of the top 20 plaintiffs’ law firms in America.

For our personal injury cases, we bring a team of experienced lawyers. Each client is assigned a partner and an associate. In addition, we have on staff multiple nurses, legal assistants, scientific analysts and case clerks to assist the attorneys.

We have represented thousands of patients who ingested prescription drugs with dangerous undisclosed side effects, and patients who received defective medical devices in personal injury lawsuits across America, including residents of Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.

We look forward to communicating with you and answering any questions you may have. To learn more about the competitive advantages our firm offers clients in personal injury and products liability cases, click here.

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Trademark Notice

"Vioxx" is a registered trademark of Merck. Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is in no way affiliated with Merck, and the Vioxx trademark is used solely for informational purposes.

"Merck's Vioxx Liability Could Reach $38 Billion," Forbes, Dec. 3, 2004

The legal liability to Merck for the withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx could be huge, according to Richard Evans, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. If all the patients who had heart attacks as a result of taking Vioxx were to receive an average-sized legal settlement, Evans wrote in a research report, Merck's liability could reach $38 billion.

To read more press articles on the Vioxx recall and Vioxx class action lawsuit, click here.

Lieff Cabraser has participated in twenty-three $100 million-plus settlements and verdicts. To read a summary, click here.

Click here to read recent press articles on the Vioxx recall and Vioxx lawsuits.

Read about key events in the Vioxx recall and Vioxx lawsuit by clicking here.