Judge Says Merck Shareholders Failed to Adequately Plead Demand Futility

TRENTON, N.J. - A federal judge has dismissed a shareholders derivative action that charged Merck & Co. Inc. directors and officers with violating their executive and financial duties in the development and sale of the now-withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. In Re: Merck & Co. Inc. Derivative & ERISA Litigation, Nos. 05-1151, 05-2368 (D. N.J.).

In a May 5 opinion, Judge Stanley R. Chesler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey said the plaintiffs failed to make a demand on Merck's Board of Directors for corrective action prior to filing suit and subsequently failed to adequately plead demand …