VIOXX CLASS ACTION SUIT ALLOWED IN QUEBEC

A Quebec court has decided to authorize a limited class of Vioxx users in Quebec, declining to include in the class the vast majority of users who took the medicine and did not allege they were injured, according to Merck Frosst Canada, a subsidiary of Merck. This is the first certified action on behalf of Vioxx consumers in North America, according to the law firm representing the plaintiffs, Siskinds.

The plaintiffs allege that Vioxx was causing significant cardiovascular events even as Merck aggressively marketed the brand to consumers and their medical professionals without full and fair disclosure of the cardiovascular risks.

The drugmaker had argued against authorization, asserting that each plaintiff's case should be tried separately. The company said it has the right to seek to de-authorize the class in later proceedings.

In the preliminary proceedings, Merck argued that the plaintiffs failed to meet the criteria for authorization under Quebec law and that a class action is not the appropriate procedure for the resolution of these plaintiffs' individual claims. It argued that these cases should be tried as individual cases, not as a class action, because each plaintiff's case is unique and depends on an individual set of facts.

"We intend to vigorously defend these cases over the coming years, and we are confident that the courts will decide these cases based on sound science," Andr Payeur, national counsel for Merck Frosst and Merck, said. "We will continue to argue that centralized judicial management of individual cases, not a class action, is the appropriate procedure for trying each case in a fair and expeditious manner.