April 12, 2007

Retired 61-year-old Lowell Berwick had a family history of coronary heart disease, a previous heart attack, and heart bypass surgery, but sought to blame his second non-fatal-heart attack on his ten months of Vioxx usage. His trial was scheduled to take place in California state court Tuesday, but he dismissed his claims with prejudice on the eve of trial. About half of the Vioxx cases scheduled for trial so far have been dismissed or postponed by plaintiffs; Merck has won two thirds of the remainder. More than 1225 Vioxx cases have been dismissed with prejudice. I've previously discussed the phenomenon of voluntary dismissal in Merck litigation.