It’s a Marathon That They Are Willing To Run

Merck and Co. is facing roughly 30,000 lawsuits after its COX-2 inhibitor drug, Vioxx, was pulled from the market in late 2004. Instead of taking on the cases at the same time or many of them at once, Merck has decided to take on every lawsuit on a case by case basis.

Merck’s defense strategy has looked good thus far. They have won 10 of their 15 cases to date; including a victory on Tuesday in Madison County (IL). Tuesday’s win was very crucial because Madison County has been referred to as the country’s top “judicial hellhole” because of the millions of dollars won by plaintiffs over the years.

There are mixed thoughts out there about how Merck’s decision to take on all the lawsuits on a case by case situation. However, I find myself agreeing with Merck’s current strategy. For starters, this strategy will prolong the cases; which will allow their new drugs to hit the market and help Merck combat litigation costs. Secondly, they will be able to build each case off of the previous cases to help improve and strengthen the defense for the lawsuits that follow. The most recent victory will also help them in moving forward by winning cases in many different venues. Every win will help in building case law that future judges will be able to refer to in future cases.

There are some major consequences in trying every case separately; most notably being that they could lose some big dollar judgments. Their strategy is definitely not fail-safe, but right now it looks like it is working. However, it is very early and these lawsuits won’t be settled anytime soon. Either way, though, some analysts are predicting that the lawsuits and legal fees could amount to anywhere between $20-50 billion. For Merck’s sake, they hope this strategy will keep them on the lower side of those predictions.

10th win for Merck on Vioxx [Chicago Tribune]