Jury renders different verdicts in 2 Vioxx cases

Jurors in New Jersey found that Merck & Co. failed to provide adequate warnings about health risks tied to its withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx in one case, but they decided that it gave adequate warning in another in two suits tried simultaneously.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 before the plaintiffs’ heart attacks.

The New Jersey-base pharmaceutical company has won nine of 13 Vioxx trials that went to a jury verdict.