Summary Box: Merck pays last $4.1B for Vioxx patient settlements, some other suits continue
By APMonday, March 1, 2010
Summary Box: Merck pays major Vioxx settlement
VIOXX UPDATE: Drugmaker Merck & Co. paid the final $4.1 billion into its $4.85 billion fund to settle roughly 10,000 U.S. claims that withdrawn painkiller Vioxx caused heart attacks or strokes.
PLAINTIFF PAYOUTS: All claims involving heart attacks suffered by Vioxx users have been processed, and paid or rejected. Claims by a smaller number of patients who suffered strokes are being processed; payments will wrap up by June.
WHAT’S LEFT: Hundreds of cases of patients who didn’t join the settlement are pending, plus some lawsuits for shareholders and insurers who paid for Vioxx.
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