A federal judge in Houston says he'll meet with attorneys next week to discuss a new trial date after today's mistrial in a lawsuit over the once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

Here's a look at key players in the nation's third Vioxx-related civil trial, and the first to go before a federal jury. The judge in the case declared a mistrial because of a hung jury after about 18 hours of deliberations over three days.

A lone holdout juror stood between Merck & Co. and what would have been a crucial second Vioxx-trial victory when the U.S. federal judge overseeing the case abruptly ruled the case a mistrial.

Questions remain about Merck & Co.'s ability to successfully defend itself in Vioxx-related litigation after the drug maker was unable to convince a jury in the first federal trial involving the painkiller.

HOUSTON - Jurors in the first federal trial over Vioxx were to resume deliberating about whether Merck & Co. was negligent in designing and marketing the once-popular painkiller and if it failed to warn about the drug's risks.

The New England Journal of Medicine said it has discovered that data about three Vioxx patients who suffered heart attacks were excised from a crucial study sponsored by Merck & Co., making the painkiller look safer than it should have.

Jurors in the first federal trial over Vioxx were to resume deliberating about whether Merck & Co. was negligent in designing and marketing the once-popular painkiller and if it failed to warn about the drug's risks.

The New England Journal of Medicine said it has discovered that data about three Vioxx patients who suffered heart attacks were excised from a crucial study sponsored by Merck & Co., making the painkiller look safer than it should have.

Attorneys for the plaintiff in a federal trial over Vioxx filed for a mistrial, citing data that was withheld from a Merck & Co. clinical study about the painkiller when it was submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. put profits ahead of consumers' safety by hiding heart risks of its Vioxx painkiller, a lawyer told a jury in closing arguments of the third trial of a lawsuit filed over the drug.