U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon decided to make a personal injury lawsuit over the prescription drug Vioxx the first to be heard in federal court. Evelyn Irvin Plunkett is bringing the trial, scheduled for November 28, 2005, on behalf of her husband Richard Irvin, Jr., who died of a heart attack in May 2001 just one month after he began taking Vioxx for back pain.

Vioxx was removed from the market on September 29, 2004, after a study concluded that the painkiller doubled patient’s risk of heart attacks, strokes and sudden cardiac death. The first state trial over Vioxx is already under way in district court in Angleton, TX, and centers on a 59-year-old man who died from an irregular heartbeat despite being in good physical condition.

Analysts predict that Merck & Co., the manufacturer of Vioxx, could be facing liability in hundreds of cases brought against them by patients who took Vioxx. The company’s liability could be as high as $18 billion.

Source: “Federal trial over Vioxx to start Nov. 28,” Associated Press, August 4, 2005.