Normally, the journal arouses little non-specialist interest. Merck denied the game was a way to teach employees how to avoid damaging questions about Vioxx's safety.Another trial is set to begin in New Jersey, where Merck is based, next month, and the first federal trial in New Orleans is slated for late November.. Merck had provided the doctor with $25,000 to support a programme to examine treatment of arthritis, Mr Lanier noted.Merck's witnesses were forced to defend another seemingly cynical practice, which was a game for Merck's sales force called "Dodge Ball". The state's supreme court also has a record of cutting large compensation awards.Merck said it would appeal. It has denied it misled patients and doctors in general about Vioxx.
It has also said it is innocent in the case of Mr Ernst in particular because he died of arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, which has not been linked to Vioxx in any studies Merck's shares slumped more than 8 per cent to $27.90. They know truth and they know justice."The compensation award could be reduced because Texas law caps damages awards. Carol Ernst began to cry when the verdict was read while her team of attorneys jumped up and shouted, "Amen!"Mark Lanier, a high profile lawyer who led the prosecution's case, said of the jury's decision: "Anyone who said they are too small-town or won't understand, they are crazy. In the first of a string of cases which are due to come to court, a jury in Angleton, a small town in Texas, awarded damages at a much higher level than had been expected to the widow of Robert Ernst, a Wal-Mart produce manager, who died in 2001 having taken Vioxx for eight months.The award included $24m for mental anguish, $229m in punitive damages and other payments.
Merck pulled Vioxx off the market in late September. However, the company is being sued in many states across the US over allegations that it was aware of the risk of Vioxx years before it decided to end its sales. The drug was taken by 20 million Americans before a study last year found that it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The American drug maker Merck was found guilty over the death of a 59-year-old triathlete who took its arthritis drug Vioxx. Merck was ordered to pay his widow $253m (£140m) in compensation. The verdict in the personal injury case dramatically increases the chances that the floodgates will be opened to more rulings against Merck, which has been sued by 7,500 people claiming they or family members suffered serious side-effects from taking Vioxx.