Federal Jury Clears Merck in Latest Vioxx Trial

A federal jury in New Orleans has cleared Merck & Co. of liability for a heart attack suffered by a 64-year-old Utah man who had taken the painkiller Vioxx. Merck attorneys had argued that Vioxx was not to blame because the plaintiff took it for less than a year and stopped taking it four days before the heart attack. The jury deliberated less than two hours. It was the 11th Vioxx case to be tried and the fourth in federal court; Merck won two of the previous federal cases and lost a third.

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