Plaintiff Wants Opinions on 18-Month Vioxx Injury Threshold Excluded

NEW ORLEANS - Expert testimony indicating that Vioxx cannot cause adverse cardiac events in patients who took the drug for less than 18 months should not be heard by a jury, plaintiffs in an upcoming federal Vioxx trial are urging a federal judge to rule. Plunkett v. Merck & Co. Inc., No. 05-4046 (E.D. La.).

In a Oct. 21 motion to exclude testimony offered by defense experts on the issue, plaintiff Evelyn Irvin Plunkett argues that the hypothesis that it takes more than18 months of ingestion for Vioxx to cause cardiovascular harm is unreliable, unsupported by the scientific community and …