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<B><I>BREAKING NEWS:</b></i> <b>Merck Settles Vioxx Case for $950 Million</b>
Merck & Co., Inc. became the latest healthcare company to strike a major settlement with the Justice Department on Nov. 22, agreeing to pay $950 million to resolve criminal and civil charges stemming from its marketing of the painkiller Vioxx.
As part of the settlement, Merck, Sharp & Dohme, the company's U.S. unit, will plead guilty in Boston federal district court to a single misdemeanor count of violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and will pay a $321.6 million criminal fine. Merck will also pay nearly $628.3 million to settle civil allegations that it marketed Vioxx for off-label uses and made false statements about the drug's safety. (The criminal information is here, and the settlement agreement is here.)
Theodore Wells Jr. of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Jack Cinquegrana of Choate Hall & Stewart represented Merck. Wells did not respond to a request for comment, and Cinquegrana referred a request for comment to his client.
“We believe that Merck acted responsibly and in good faith in connection with the conduct at issue in these civil settlement agreements, including activities concerning the safety profile of Vioxx,” Merck general counsel Bruce Kuhlik said in a statement. The settlement also resolves claims lodged by 43 states and
the District of Columbia. The states of Alaska, Kentucky, Montana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Utah are continuing to press related claims, according to Merck.
Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in 2004, and in 2007 it agreed to settle civil suits over the drug's safety for $4.85 billion. In anticipation of the settlement, the company recorded a $950 million charge in October 2010.
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