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In their most recent lawsuit over the deadly side effects of Vioxx, top executives from Merck defended the drug company’s position on its drug labels. The potentially deadly cardiovascular issues that are linked to the drug were deliberately kept out of the drug’s severe warning section of its listed side effects. Instead, the risk of heart attacks was put in Vioxx’s “precaution” section. The company fought for two years to have the side effects listed in the precaution section.
The Vioxx trial uncovered interoffice emails and other documents wherein company executives spoke openly about the potential business effects of listing the heart related side effects in the severe warning section. In these documents Merck officials had determined that their profits would decrease by 50% if such a warning was issued.
Merck also maintains that the heart attack of Frederick Humeston, an Idaho postal worker taking Vioxx, was the result of poor health habits and not their drug. Mr. Humeston, who had a heart attack in 2001, is the latest person to sue the company over Vioxx.
About 4,200 other lawsuits are currently seeking damages from the drug giant. The cases follow another high profile Vioxx lawsuit that awarded over $253 million in damages.