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.

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.

Mardi Gras is over, and the college kids on spring break have left New Orleans. But the Big Easy can rest assured: The Vioxx bar has taken their place.

Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation sent pending product liability litigation involving Merck & Co., Inc.'s Vioxx drug to Judge Eldon Fallon of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Dozens of lawyers filed into a federal courtroom for a first pre-trial hearing in the federal Vioxx liability case, the start of a legal process expected to be complex, years-long and costly for the painkiller's maker, Merck & Co.

Though it was taken off the market in September, it could be a while before the effects of the drug Vioxx have worn off.

The possibility that Vioxx may once again be offered to patients raises a provocative question: Did Merck & Co. err by pulling its $2.5 billion painkiller off the market?