New York State, New York City sue Merck over Vioxx
Last Updated: 2007-09-18 10:22:54 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Emily Chasan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The state and city of New York on Monday filed suit against Merck & Co Inc, claiming the drugmaker concealed the risks of the withdrawn arthritis treatment Vioxx.
The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, seeks damages, penalties and restitution for "tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wrongfully spent on Vioxx prescriptions," the office of New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined in the suit.
This is the first case to be brought under New York's recently enacted False Claims Act, which allows the state to seek damages for the amount spent in Medicaid and EPIC health- care programs to pay for drugs prescribed under false pretenses, the attorney general's office said. The New York City Administrative Code has a similar law.
"We are confident that Merck has acted responsibly, from researching the drug prior to approval, to monitoring the drug while it was on the market, to voluntarily withdrawing the drug when Merck did," said Kent Jarrell, a spokesman for Merck's outside counsel.
The suit claims many Vioxx prescriptions never would have been written if doctors had been properly informed, the attorney general's office said.
"Merck's irresponsible and duplicitous conduct endangered the health of New Yorkers and wasted our tax dollars," Cuomo said in a statement. "As alleged in the complaint, even as evidence was piling up showing just how dangerous this drug was, Merck put profits above all else and put thousands at risk by continuing to push Vioxx inappropriately on doctors and patients."
Between 1999 and 2004, Medicaid and EPIC spent more than $100 million on Vioxx prescriptions in New York State, the attorney general's office said, referring to the New York State Medical Assistance Program and the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage plan.
Vioxx was withdrawn in 2004 after being linked to heart attacks and strokes among long-term users. Merck faces more than 27,000 lawsuits filed by former users of Vioxx who claim they were harmed by the drug and insurance companies and HMOs seeking to be reimbursed for their spending on the former $2.5 billion-a-year pill.
John Bisner, a lawyer representing Merck in the Vioxx cases said he believes the drug was marketed properly to the states.
"They really don't allege that the product was not effective at relieving pain," Bisner said, adding the State and City likely would have spent the money on other painkillers if Vioxx had not been around.
The drugmaker is already defending lawsuits filed by a handful of other states, including Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Texas and Utah.
