Merck agrees to pay $4.85 bln in Vioxx settlement

Source: Reuters via Yahoo News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merck & Co has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle claims that its painkiller Vioxx caused heart attacks and strokes in thousands of users, the drugmaker said on Friday.

The agreement covers lawsuits filed against the company in U.S. courts, resolving a major legal battle that has dogged the drugmaker since it pulled Vioxx off the market three years ago.

Merck recalled the popular painkiller, which had $2.5 billion in annual sales, in September 2004 after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients taking it for more than 18 months.

In the settlement, reached with representatives of plaintiffs in federal and state courts, Merck did not admit Vioxx caused patient injury and did not admit fault.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071109/bs_nm/merck_vioxx_settlement_dc

I may be wrong here, but I always thought their reason for existence was to protect consumers/patients from harm and ACTUALLY test the drugs adequately before they got on the market. I guess I'm naive.

The sad thing is our constitution does not recognize rights of corporations but beginning with Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886) federal courts have granted rights to corporations.

Fast forward to 2007 and we find corporations sometimes losing civil suits for criminal actions but rarely being prosecuted in criminal courts for criminal activity.