|
Merck feels the pain
Shares of the Whitehouse Station-based drug maker dove 7.7 percent Friday after a Texas jury found the company should pay $ 253 million in damages to the widow of a man who died while on the company's painkiller. Stock analysts said the verdict would probably embolden other potential plaintiffs to sue Merck over the drug, which the company withdrew in September because of links to heart attacks and strokes. "Investors should prepare for a multiyear legal battle," Tim Anderson, an analyst with Prudential Securities, wrote in a note to investors. Shares of New York-based Pfizer Inc. also slumped after the midafternoon Vioxx verdict, finishing the day down 1.3 percent. Pfizer makes two painkillers in Vioxx's class: Bextra, which Pfizer withdrew earlier this year at the request of regulators, and Celebrex, for which regulators strengthened the warning label in April. … Analysts said it is still difficult to gauge Merck's overall potential liability from the Vioxx litigation. More than 4,000 cases have been filed, with thousands more potentially waiting in the wings. … Frank M. McClellan, a professor at Temple University's Beasley School of Law who specializes in drug-product liability, said unless Merck believes that damaging evidence in the Texas case would be excluded in other cases, he expects the company will seek a global settlement. "If the same type of evidence is available to other plaintiffs, then Merck is subjected to a tremendous amount of liability," McClellan said.
For a copy of the complete article, contact CJRG. |