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…

Merck hid the health risks of Vioxx to protect profit, a lawyer representing the family of a man who died after using the pain reliever for 23 days told jurors yesterday in the first federal trial over the drug.

The litigation over injury claims from withdrawn painkiller Vioxx enters a critical new phase today, as manufacturer Merck faces its first trial in federal court.

Jury selection began in Houston on Tuesday in the latest high stakes legal battle for Merck & and its first in a federal courtroom.

Merck & Co., with one victory and one loss in Vioxx lawsuits tried in state courts, may win the first federal trial over the painkiller, lawyers said.

A lawyer representing the widow of man who claims that Merck & Co.'s Vioxx caused her husband's death argued that taking the pain reliever for one month was enough to cause the 53-year-old man's heart attack.

A lawyer representing the widow of man who claims that Merck & Co.'s Vioxx caused her husband's death called the link between the pain reliever and heart attacks the company's "dirty little secret."

A nationally known pharmacology expert testified that the prescription painkiller Vioxx can cause blood clots like the one that led to the death of a Florida seafood salesman four years ago.

With the score 1-1 in the high-stakes game of Vioxx pharmaceutical litigation, the tie-breaking trial begins in federal court in Houston.

After state court trials in Texas and New Jersey, the first Vioxx lawsuit in federal court goes to trial in Houston this week, but the issue remains essentially the samewhether short-term use of the once-popular pain reliever causes heart attacks.