Please click here to visit our sponsor

Vioxx and Bextra Lawsuits Could Tie Up Courts for Years


In September, 2004, pharmaceutical giant Merck voluntarily withdrew its painkilling medication Vioxx from the market. Studies show that Vioxx increases the risk of heart attack and stroke among patients who have used the drug for longer than 18 months. Vioxx, a drug from a family of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs known as COX-2 inhibitors, is one of only a few drugs specifically designed to minimize inflammation while avoiding the stomach disorders long associated with other anti-inflammatory medications. Since its introduction in 1999, Vioxx has been a huge success, and sales of the drug worldwide topped $2.5 billion in 2003. That is certainly a great deal of money, but it pales when compared to the amount that Merck stands to lose through product liability lawsuits, which will soon come to court. As of this writing, several thousand lawsuits have been filed nationally, but attorneys estimate that the total number of lawsuits filed could reach a staggering 100,000.

One hundred thousand lawsuits is certainly a formidable number, but that figure could represent only half of the number of lawsuits related to COX-2 inhibitors. Earlier this year, Pfizer voluntarily withdrew its similar medication Bextra from the market, as studies linked the use of Bextra to increased heart attack risk and to a rare skin disorder known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Bextra, another drug in the family of COX-2 inhibitors, works very similarly to Vioxx, and many patients who formerly took Vioxx switched to Bextra after the former was removed from the market last fall. Given that sales of Bextra rose to near Vioxx levels before it was removed from the market, it seems likely that the number of lawsuits filed by patients who claim to have been harmed by their use of Bextra could eventually equal the number of Vioxx lawsuits.

Unless the courts consolidate them into just a few class-action suits, the 200,000 potential lawsuits stemming from problems with Bextra and Vioxx could cripple our courts for the next decade. Patients who believe that they may have been harmed through the use of either Bextra or Vioxx would be well advised to contact an attorney who specializes in pharmaceutical lawsuits as soon as possible. The wait for a resolution in court, particularly for Vioxx lawsuits, could be a very long one. Those who file quickly may get the fastest results.

©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing.

Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including Bextra-Info.net, a site devoted to the withdrawn drug Bextra and StructuredSettlementHelp.com, a site devoted to structured settlements.


ww1 army records 468x60



Medicine Lake trail bridge is, uh, shocking
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - 3 hours ago
By RODRIGO ZAMITH, Star Tribune Medicine Lake Trail bridge in Maple Grove? Hmmm...I'll have to check my Hennepin County map. Shocked by the new bridge on ...
Maple Grove bike trail closed after shocking riders KSAX
all 25 news articles


HMSA Supports John A. Burns School of Medicine
Honolulu Advertiser, HI - 2 hours ago
... of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration to the University of Hawai'i John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM). ...
The Faces of Our Future Health Care Providers WebWire (press release)
all 2 news articles


Genomic medicine sector needs government backing
The Statesman, India - 11 hours ago
Government support, strong leadership within institutions and the protection of “genomic sovereignty” are vital to the burgeoning genomic medicine sector in ...


Canada.com

The best medicine for the NHS at 60
Financial Times, UK - 5 hours ago
Sixty years ago tomorrow the National Health Service opened for business. It was launched with the glorious aspiration that it should be "comprehensive" and ...
Unpalatable facts about our much loved NHS The Argus.co.uk
all 86 news articles


Film Review: Medicine for Melancholy
Hollywood Reporter, United States - 14 hours ago
By Kirk Honeycutt In “Medicine for Melancholy,” writer-director Barry Jenkins takes a cautious rookie approach: He keeps things low key, smooth and under ...


Strong Medicine: Doctors Who Signed the Declaration of Independence
Wall Street Journal Blogs, NY - 11 hours ago
But the practice of medicine remained important to him. In 1793, two years before he died, he wrote a letter to the New Hampshire state medical society ...


South Africa: Mpumalanga Health Urges Youth to Take Up Medicine in ...
AllAfrica.com, Washington - 20 hours ago
The provincial Departments of Health and Social Services will once again be sending 25 students to Cuba to study medicine, according to department ...


The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com

Research database from the US Library of Medicine
The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com, OH - 10 hours ago
... will begin offering swimming, golf and tennis clinics, and will offer athletic conditioning by Rainbow's pediatric sports medicine experts. ...
Will UH nix the MacDonald name in favor of Rainbow? The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com
all 5 news articles


Draft medicine law ‘endangers people’s lives’
Sowetan, South Africa - 1 hour ago
A proposed medicine amendment bill would be disastrous because it would empower Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to legalise toxic medication as ...


Thoughts on a Life in Medicine
Washington Post, United States - Jul 2, 2008
It would stand to reason, then, that this professor's take on his 40-year career in medicine would be quite the read. It is. ...

Medicine - Google News

home | site map

© 2006 www.elearn-university.org