New Jersey jury splits on two Merck Vioxx cases

Last Updated: 2007-03-02 16:03:22 -0400 (Reuters Health)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (Reuters) - A New Jersey jury found on Friday that Merck & Co. failed to provide adequate warnings about health risks tied to its withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx in one case, but decided that it gave adequate warning in another in two suits tried simultaneously.

In both cases, the jury found that Merck committed consumer fraud by making misrepresentations concerning the drug's heart risks and that it intentionally suppressed or concealed material information from physicians prior to the plaintiffs' heart attacks.

The Merck defeat in the case of Frederick Humeston was a retrial of a suit that the drugmaker had won only to have the judge throw out the verdict after ruling that new evidence had come to light.