Lawsuits Against Vioxx Continue

Susy Owen

Attorney

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Due to safety concerns, a defective product known as Vioxx was pulled from the market 2004. The manufacturer of Vioxx, Merck, is still facing thousands of lawsuits filed by injured people. In fact, a study done by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004, estimated that Vioxx could have played a part in as many as 27,785 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths between 1999 and 2003.

Subsequent to the above-referenced FDA study, it was revealed by Dr. David Graham, that the FDA had attempted to silence him and his findings regarding Vioxx, by way of intimidation and veiled threats. The same type of behavior on the part of the FDA became evident when Avandia, a diabetes drug, came under scrutiny. During congressional hearings, allegations were made that the FDA had intimidated Avandia safety reviewers into keeping quiet about the drug's potential problems. Seeing a pattern here.

As a result of the foregoing, this year, Congress passed major FDA reforms. "These reforms should make the FDA much less dependent on the drug industry for safety information, and give the agency more power to take action against defective drugs. The legislation was signed into law by President Bush just last month."

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