Doctors and pharmacists in the tri-county area expect a wave of anxiety to crash over their patients once they learn Pfizer Inc. pulled its popular arthritis painkiller Bextra off the market.

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

The federal Vioxx cases took a major step forward when U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon selected a plaintiffs steering committee that will help shepherd what is expected to be lengthy and complex litigation.

Since Merck withdrew its blockbuster painkilling drug Vioxx from the market last September, saying it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes, the company has been deluged by lawsuits. One law firm alone, alone, among hundreds across the nation handling Vioxx cases, has received more than 10,000 inquiries from the drug.

MICHELLE NORRIS, host: Investors in the two companies that make Vioxx, Celebrez and Bextra shrugged off today’s FDA announcement, and on Wall Street, stock in Merck and Pfizer barely budged. NPR’s Snigdha Prakash explains why.

When Brandy Ferguson filed a lawsuit against The Rum Jungle about the death of her 27-year-old husband, she stepped into an area of legal liability not popular with many jurors.

Pfizer (the manufacturer of Celebrex and Bextra) suspended sales of their arthritis drug, Bextra, following a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, this move may have come too late for thousands of people that have suffered a heart attack or stroke while taking this medication.

Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug maker, suspended sales of the Bextra painkiller at the request of U.S. regulators and agreed to apply the government's strictest warnings to its similar Celebrex drug.

When Brandy Ferguson filed a lawsuit against The Rum Jungle about the death of her 27-year-old husband, she stepped into an area of legal liability not popular with many jurors.

Rollback Wrecker Lacked Underride