San Francisco Chronicle, "Jury to Begin Deliberating in Vioxx Trial"

          Deliberations await jurors who have heard more than a month of often complex testimony about Merck & Co.'s painkiller Vioxx and whether it led to the 2001 death of a Texas man.
          On Wednesday, jurors were to hear the last word from Merck's legal team and plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier in closing arguments before they began weighing the evidence.
          Merck rested its case Tuesday in a trial that has drawn national attention from pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers and stock analysts as the first of several tests of what lies ahead for the New Jersey-based drug maker.
          Merck has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending across the country.
          Merck took Vioxx off the market in September when a study showed it could double risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer. The one-time $2.5 billion seller went on the market in 1999 and was taken by 20 million people when available to consumers.