The tally of lawsuits against Merck & Co. in state and federal court over its painkiller Vioxx is nearly 5,000 and growing, lawyers said in a federal court Thursday, less than a week after the drug maker suffered a stinging defeat in a state court in Texas.
The implications of the loss in the first of the case to be tried against Merck are still playing out. But at a routine monthly meeting in New Orleans, lawyers - and U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon - made it clear they expect the number of cases against Merck to grow.
In federal court alone, some 1,800 cases already have been filed and Fallon suggested that number could double, or even triple. Federal cases have been filed all over the country, but have been consolidated in New Orleans because of Fallon's expertise in dealing with complicated, large-scale court fights.
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