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The New York Times has released an article stating:

“Three years after withdrawing its pain medication Vioxx from the market, Merck has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits by people who claim they or their family members suffered injury or died after taking the drug, according to two lawyers with direct knowledge of the matter.”

“Based on the fact that the 27,000 suits cover about 47,000 sets of plaintiffs, the average plaintiff will receive just over $100,000 before legal fees and expenses, which usually swallow between 30 and 50 percent of payments to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs who do not want to accept the settlement can pursue their own claims, but with so many of the top trial lawyers in the United States agreeing to the deal, they may have difficulty doing so.”

While I think this is the only solution to the VIOXX situation (and there is more of a real problem here than just VIOXX), I feel it does not justify what some of these families have gone through. $50,000 is not justification for a lost loved one due to the hiding of fact finding by Merck in their clinical trials.

Tags: litigation, settlement, vioxx