Vioxx

Florida has joined eight states all suing drugmaker Merck & Co alleging deceptive marketing of the recalled painkiller Vioxx.

The lawsuit claims that while Merck offered Vioxx to the Medicaid program it was hiding the drug’s adverse effects in direct violation of the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum says the state wants to be reimbursed for more than $80 million spent on health programs, such as Florida’s Medicaid program, which included Vioxx as an approved drug. He wants that money back plus interest and he seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.

Vioxx was pulled from the market in 2004 after patients taking the drug for arthritis pain began having heart attacks and stroke. Merck says its own research showed the pill doubled the risk.

Merck’s promotional campaign convinced doctors and patients that the drug was safe and desirable, and McCollum says in a statement that “The company also allegedly tried to intimidate physicians and researchers who questioned the safety of Vioxx.”

Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck said in a statement that Merck acted responsibly. “We intend to defend ourselves against the complaint,” said Ron Rogers. Merck has already agreed to settle about 50,000 claims for damage from Vioxx for $4.85 billion, all being handled out of a New Orleans District Court. At the present time the heart attack victims, or their survivors, are supposed to be receiving payments.

Florida joins Alaska, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Texas, Utah and New York City which have all brought substantially similar complaints against Merck. #

Alcohol and prescription drugs don’t mix.  

Public Citizen has issued its annual “Worst Pills, Best Pills” report and the nonprofit consumer group warns against mixing alcohol with certain medications, even if you are a light drinker.  Most patients don’t read the product inserts where this information is sometimes included. 

Worst Pills, Best Pills” lists 273 drugs that shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol including antibiotics, antidepressants, narcotics and anti-ulcer drugs.

“While the more important alcohol-medication interactions are listed in the table, it is not an exhaustive list,” writes Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the Health Research Group. Patients should also check with a health care professional before taking alcohol with any drug. 

There are a few problems patients should know about:

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We hear it all the time. People come into our office and say they are not the type of person who files a lawsuit.  We tell them, it’s okay, you are an American and the courts are set up for citizens to find a remedy when they’ve truly been injured.    It’s an American right. 

It was an American right for the widow of Charles Riegel. The New York man died after a balloon catheter made by Medtronic burst in his chest after it was inserted during an angioplasty.  She sued, but in February, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Medtronic.

The reason is enough to scare everyone in this country.  Since the medical device was approved by the FDA, the court decided that the states (in this case New York where the suit was filed) don’t have the right impose liability over a faulty product.  In other words- the FDA is the final word on medical devices.  

Now another issue is going before the Supreme Court and the business community will be watching this case hoping to use federal preemption, as it’s called, to short circuit product and drug liability.  

A Vermont musician won $6.8 million during a jury trial against Wyeth after her arm was amputated because a Wyeth anti-nausea drug was injected.  Wyeth wants to overturn the case so will ask for blanket immunity before the Supreme Court. The drug was approved by the FDA, after all.  

All this is happening at a time when we are beginning to understand just how overwhelmed and underfunded the FDA is to do an adequate job to ensure safety.  

The business community will be waiting, hoping to use that reasoning to short circuit hundreds of product liability and wrongful death claims filed against drug companies and medical device manufacturers.

The outcome of the Wyeth case may seal the fate for hundreds of other lawsuits, filed by people who are hurt.  

Legislation is pending called the Medical Device Safety Act of 2008, that would overrule the Riegel decision, restoring the right for the injured to seek compensation from medical device manufacturers.

If you ever contact your Congressman or woman, this would be the issue that merits a call. It’s called HR 8381 and is sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman and Frank Pallone.

It basically says that traditional state common-law remedies that the injured have always turned to should be restored, and that right doesn’t undermine the FDA’s powers to protect consumers.

Product liability lawsuits are intended to compensate people -  the kind of people who are truly injured, the kind of people who tell us, “I’m not the sort of person who sues.” #

71-year-old Leonel Garza suffered a fatal heart attack in 2001 after a month on the painkiller, Vioxx.  In 2006, his widow was awarded a $32 million judgment by a Texas jury.

As often happens, caps on awards exist in Texas so the judge had to cut the award down from $25 million in punitive to $8.73 million. On Wednesday, an appeals court threw out that award too.

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