December 15, 2006

Gary Albright had multiple risk factors for a heart attack including a 30-year history of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and untreated high cholesterol. An Alabama state-court jury took 90 minutes to decide Vioxx wasn't the cause of his 2001 heart attack. Merck pled a statute of limitations defense, but AP press coverage is unclear how that played out. (h/t) The Merck press release appears to be misdated, since the verdict came today. That's nine out of thirteen jury verdicts for Merck (with one such victory overturned by Judge Higbee).