The federal Vioxx trial in Houston was ruled a mistrial, leaving Merck, the maker of the painkiller, having to try the case again while fending off thousands of other suits claiming that the drug causes heart attacks.

Telling jurors their decision will have “far-reaching consequences for how drug companies conduct their business,” the attorney for a woman who believes her husband’s short-term use of Vioxx caused his death asked the panel to send Merck a message.

The jury in the first federal case against drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc.’s Vioxx adjourned on Thursday after deliberating for about two hours over whether the painkiller contributed to a Florida man’s death.

HOUSTON- jurors deliberated about two hours Thursday without reaching a verdict in the first trial stemming from a federal lawsuit against Merck& Co. over its once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

Jurors deliberated about two hours Thursday without reaching a verdict in the first trial stemming from a federal lawsuit against Merck & Co. over its once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

A Merck executive denied today she tried to pressure one of the nation’s top cardiologists into not publishing an article in a highly respected medical journal raising concerns that Vioxx could cause heart attacks and strokes.

NPR.org, December 7, 2005 – Merck rested its case Wednesday afternnon in the first deferral Vioxx trial after testimony from a pathologist who said the painkiller played no role in the fatal heart attack of 53-year-old Richard “Dicky” Irvin.

NPR.org, December 6, 2005 – In the first full day of defense testimony at the federal Vioxx trial in Houston, witnesses for drug manufacturer Merck presented the company and its scientists as careful, methodical and, above all, concerned about the safety of the users of its drugs.

U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon on Tuesday ruled that plaintiff attorneys can present as evidence a videotaped deposition from a Cleveland Clinic Cardiologist who has criticized how Merck handled the market withdrawal of the COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx in the first federal lawsuit related to the me…

The litigation over injury claims from withdrawn painkiller Vioxx enters a critical new phase today, as manufacturer Merck faces its first trial in federal court.