painkiller vioxx news from FierceHealthcare

Some Massachusetts lawmakers are complaining that members of the state's Health Insurance Connector agency--which oversees the state's health insurance law--should not be collecting relatively high salaries averaging $111,000 per year. Article

> The FDA is too slow to approve new drugs and …

> The New England Journal of Medicine published a correction on a paper that argued the painkiller Vioxx has few side effects in the first 18 months of use, undermining Merck's legal defense. Article

> The AAMI 2006 conference is underway in Washington, and blogger Tim Gee is on the scene with live coverage from the convention floor.  …

An inquiry by Congressional researchers finds that the FDA approach to drug safety has changed little despite criticism from consumer advocates and prominent critics in medicine. The GAO looked at the agency's handling of safety issues and found little evidence that the agency has improved its oversight of drugs once they hit the market. The report concludes that the FDA should be given more power to compel drug companies to complete post-marketing studies. The authors also argue that …

The public spat between the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine and the scientists who produced the controversial November 2000 study on Merck's Cox-2 painkiller Vioxx has intensified. On Wednesday, the journal's editors published a "public expression of concern," repeating their earlier charge that the research intentionally downplayed the risks of adverse cardiovascular events. In response, a group of outside researchers wrote in a separate piece that they stand by …

A jury in Atlantic City, NJ, ruled in favor of drug maker Merck in the company's second trial involving the painkiller Vioxx. Jurors deliberated for little more than a day before rejecting former postal worker Frederick "Mike" Humeston's claim that his heart attack was caused by the drug. The jury also flatly rejected Humeston's argument that Merck committed consumer fraud when it marketed the drug to consumers and doctors.

The controversy over Cox-2 painkillers has led to an …

W. Mark Lanier, the folksy Texas attorney who won a blockbuster $256.3 million   judgment against Merck over the painkiller Vioxx, will head a legal "dream team" of law firms going after the drug maker. Yesterday, the attorney said he has assembled a list of 20,000 additional people who claim the drug caused them injury and threatened to launch a wave of lawsuits in state courts. "We've got the best courtroom lawyers, we've got the best mass tort lawyers... and we've got …

Following the $253 million jury award in Ernst v. Merck, thousands of people have filed new lawsuits against the drug maker over its painkiller Vioxx. Court documents show that 1,500 new suits have been filed against the company in the eight weeks since the case ended. That brings the total number of suits filed against the company over its maligned Cox-2 inhibitor to 6,500. The award in the Texas case was capped under state laws limiting punitive damages, reducing it dramatically, …

After months of bad news about the company's Cox-2 painkiller Vioxx, things are upbeat at Merck today after word of a successful final stage trial of its cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. Researchers say the vaccine works by stopping HP 16 and HP 18, two common viruses which have been shown to cause the majority of cervical cancers. Article

Merck said it will "defend itself vigorously" in the second trial over the painkiller Vioxx, which is set to open this week in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Former US Marine Frederick Humeston claims Vioxx led to his heart attack two years ago. The drug maker is expected to argue that Humeston had multiple cardiac risk factors. In a sign that management is taking the situation very seriously, Merck announced a last minute addition to its defense team, adding attorney Philip Beck, the lawyer …

As jurors in Texas weigh the company's fate, executives at Merck are considering a sobering reality. Even if Merck does manage to win the lawsuit against it over the role of the painkiller Vioxx in the death of Peter Ernst, the company still faces thousands of other suits making similar charges. Going into Ernst v. Merck, many legal experts had predicted an easy win for Merck. It hasn't quite worked out that way. Many say Houston attorney W. Mark Lanier may have pulled off a major legal …