If approved by claimants, Merck deal could end roughly 50,000 lawsuits. Even when it was winning most Vioxx lawsuits in the courtroom, the maker of the withdrawn painkiller was losing in other areas.

Merck & Co. said Friday it will pay $4.85 billion to end thousands of lawsuits over its painkiller Vioxx in what is believed to be the largest drug settlement ever.

Merck & Co., Inc. has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to resolve Vioxx related claims in which a claimant has suffered a heart attack, sudden cardiac death, or stroke.

A Lexington lawyer has been sued by 49 former diet drug users who say they were cheated out of a combined $903,000 in a settlement of a lawsuit in Mississippi.

Plaintiffs' lawyers this morning announced that Merck & Co. has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle the majority of claims over injuries linked to its Vioxx painkiller.

The maker of the painkiller Vioxx has agreed to pay more than $4.8 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits in one of the largest civil cases ever.

Merck & Co. announced Friday that it will pay $4.85 billion to settle as claims by as many as 47,000 groups of plaintiffs over injuries linked to its blockbuster Vioxx painkiller.

Montgomery law firm Beasley, Allen is on the winning side of a $4.85 billion settlement for users of the painkiller Vioxx who claim they were harmed by the drug.

Wanting to move on from the legacy of its deadly painkiller, the maker of Vioxx, Merck & Co. this morning signed an agreement to pay $4.85 billion to settle the outstanding individual product liability claims against the drug.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market Sept. 30, 2004, after its researchers determined the then-blockbuster painkiller doubled risk of heart attacks and strokes.