Plaintiffs get close to $5B, but Merck could have done a lot worse.

Attorneys who spent nearly one year negotiating a $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement were left pondering a paradox. Since each side now is certain that the other is prepared for, if not relishing, a litigation Verdun, wouldn't it make better sense to settle after a minimum number of skirmishes?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top doctors at the helm of one of the nation's most influential medical journals are giving the Supreme Court some unsolicited legal advice about a major case. The Food and Drug Administration "is in no position" to guarantee drug safety, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said in a friend-of-the-court brief. Lawsuits can serve as "a vital deterrent" and protect consumers if drug companies don't disclose risks.

Merck & Co. will start cutting checks for former users of its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx next month after announcing Thursday that it will fund a $4.85 billion settlement expected to resolve roughly 50,000 lawsuits.

Department of Veterans Affairs watchdogs have concluded that the department failed to alert veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in a timely manner to the dangers posed by a drug it was prescribing, VA officials acknowledged Wednesday under sharp questioning from lawmakers.

Why should doctors be concerned about preemption? In stripping patients of their right to seek redress through due process of law, preemption of common-law tort actions is not only unjust but will also result in the reduced safety of drugs and medical devices for the American people. Preemption will undermine the confidence that doctors and patients have in the safety of drugs and devices. If injured patients are unable to seek legal redress from manufacturers of defective products, they may instead turn elsewhere.

More than 59,000 people have registered claims against drugmaker Merck & Co. for injury from painkiller Vioxx, and administrators have enough records to review about 9,100 of those claims.

The anti-smoking drug Chantix was removed by the Federal Aviation Administration from the list of medications deemed safe for pilots and air traffic controllers. The FAA ban followed a public health advisory issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that contained a five-point safety guide on the severe changes in mood and behavior persons taking Chantix may go through.

Pfizer Inc.'s once promising anti-smoking drug Chantix received another blow Wednesday after a nonprofit group's report about serious physical side effects prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to ban the drug's use by pilots and air traffic controllers.

Pfizer Inc.'s stop-smoking pill Chantix has been linked to more than 3,000 reports in the U.S. of serious side effects, including suicides, heart trouble and aggression, a study said.

A heart medication sold by Mylan Laboratories in the US has had to be recalled, after it emerged that some doses may contain twice the intended dose of active ingredient. Digitek (digoxin) is used to treat heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias, and the risk of adverse events with the drug is so serious that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has take the unprecedented step of asking pharmacists to notify all patients who have been prescribed it.