JPML Creates MDL Docket for Zostavax Shingles Vaccine Lawsuits

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has granted Merck & Co. Inc.’s request to create a federal docket for lawsuits accusing it of failing to warn that its Zostavax vaccine, marketed for the prevention of shingles, caused the same condition in some who received the shot.

Judge Harvey Bartle III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania will oversee the docket, which will consist of 57 Zostavax lawsuits filed in 9 different federal courts throughout the country, plus any future-filed actions.

“These actions involve common questions of fact, and that centralization will serve …