Vioxx trials next yeat to focus on strokes

The absolute blitzkrieg of lawsuits set to come on full force next year regarding the Vioxx painkiller product is staggering.

Over 8,500 lawsuits are expected, and with such a volume of activity, the judge assigned to the federal trials stated this past week that patients who had strokes while taking the drug will be the main focus of each trial. What that means is only cases where strokes were involved may be tried.

Does this seem particularly bothersome to you? Vioxx was involved in possible heart complications, and although Merck (the manufacturer) has won four of five court cases dealing with heart problems related to Vioxx so far, are the rest simply going to vanish? Weird.