On May 20, 2008, Merck & Co. announced an agreement to pay $58 million to settle a multistate Vioxx defective marketing lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged Merck deceptively downplayed the health risks associated with its arthritis medication.

As part of the Vioxx settlement, Merck must also submit all new television commercial advertisements for its products to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review before they can be aired. Additionally, Merck is barred from “ghostwriting,” in which academic scientists receive compensation for attaching their names to positive research articles written by company-hired medical writers.

Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2004 after it was found to double the risk of heart attacks and strokes, triggering thousands of product liability lawsuits against Merck. The company’s direct-to-consumer television advertising provoked patients to request Vioxx prescriptions before understanding the effects.

The Vioxx settlement will be divided among the following states:

• Arkansas,
• Arizona,
• California,
• Connecticut,
• Florida,
• Hawaii,
• Idaho,
• Illinois,
• Iowa,
• Kansas,
• Maine,
• Maryland,
• Massachusetts,
• Michigan,
• Nebraska,
• Nevada,
• New Jersey,
• North Carolina,
• North Dakota,
• Ohio,
• Oregon,
• South Carolina,
• South Dakota,
• Tennessee,
• Texas,
• Vermont,
• Washington, and
• Wisconsin.

Merck’s settlement comes three months after it agreed to pay $671 million to settle allegations the pharmaceutical giant overcharged the government for Vioxx and three other drugs, and bribed doctors to prescribe its drugs.

Source: Martha Raffaele, “Merck agrees to $58M settlement over Vioxx ad claims,” My Fox Raleigh, May 21, 2008.