Jury Finds for Merck in Federal Vioxx Product Liability Trial

NEW ORLEANS - A federal jury has cleared Merck & Co. Inc. of liability for the death of a 53-year-old Florida man who suffered a heart attack after taking Vioxx for less than a month. In Re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1657 (E.D. La.).

The Feb. 17 verdict was the second Vioxx-related court victory for Merck in the past year and the first in a federal court.

Jurors for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana unanimously found that Merck was not negligent in designing or marketing Vioxx, or that the company had failed …