The Vioxx pills that an Alabama widow claims caused her husbands death Sept. 4, 2001, were not on the market until a half year later, attorneys for Merck Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday in asking Clay County Circuit Court to dismiss the wrongful death case as bogus.

Next month, a Montgomery law firm is schedualed to be the first in the nation to try a case against Merck Pharmacutical company for a death claimed to be linked to the pain drug Vioxx.

"Merck is thumbing it's nose at the justice system, and trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat by questioning the veracity of Cheryl Rogers whose husband, Howard, died at age 42 as a direct result of taking Vioxx."

More than a month away from going to trial in eastern Alabama over its discontinued painkiller, Vioxx, Merck & Co. has asked a Clay County judge to dismiss the case.

Law firm Beasley Allen, lead counsel for the first Vioxx lawsuit set for May, believes that Pfizer's Bextra, a COX-2 inhibitor, posed a dual danger to thousands of consumers before its withdrawal last week.

Beasley Allen law firm in Montgomery, Alabama believes that Pfizer's Bextra, another COX-2 inhibitor, posed a dual danger to thousands of consumers before its withdrawal last week.

One of the most popular in the COX-2 class, Vioxx - used by tens of millions of people worldwide - was pulled off the market last October. This decision came shortly after medical conference where FDA researcher David Graham showed higher doses of Vioxx correlated with a tripled risk of heart attack or sudden cardiac death compared to people who weren't taking any similar drug.

The Vioxx pills that an Alabama widow claims caused her husband's death Sept. 4, 2001, were not on the market until a half year later.

Mobile cases among hundreds sent to federal judge in New Orleans for pretrial discover

The first court case to be heard against the makers of the arthritis painkiller Vioxx will open in Clay County next month, and Montgomery trial lawyer Jere Beasley said his firm will have several hundred more after that.