Vioxx plaintiff hits homerun; Score: Merck 9, Plaintiffs 5

In a setback for Merck, the maker of Vioxx, a New Jersey jury today awarded plaintiff $20 million in compensatory and $27 million in punitive damages to a 61-year-old mail carrier who suffered a heart attack allegedly caused by his prescription Vioxx.  The pharmaceutical company has won nine of the fourteen Vioxx cases it has tried.  For more on the case, see here.