US pharmaceutical company to face lawsuit in China
12/8/2005
US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co Inc will face a collective lawsuit next year by a Beijing-based law firm, which is looking for Chinese users that have suffered from side effects of the company's pain relief drug Vioxx, China Daily reported Wednesday.
Out of safety concerns, Merck announced on September 30, 2004 a voluntary worldwide withdrawal of Vioxx, a drug which was approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1999.
A study, conducted by associate director for science in FDA's office of drug safety David Graham, found that heavy doses of Vioxx tripled risks of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death.
Attorney Hao Junbo from Beijing Limin Lawyer's Office said he thought China has a large number of Vioxx users, and his firm is seeking Chinese patients to show their prescription and medical records when using Vioxx, in a bid to prepare for compensation claims in the United States.
Media reports said earlier that the study by Graham's team estimates that Vioxx may have contributed to 27,785 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths between 1999 and 2003. About 20 million Americans had taken Vioxx a big money-spinner for Merck, generating about 2.5 billion US dollars in yearly sales by the time Merck withdrew it.
Hao said that there are more than 4,200 civil cases in the US filed against the New Jersey-based company, and an American lawyer helped a Texas widow win a 253 million US dollars verdict in the first Vioxx trial, held on August 19 this year.
"The winning is quite conducive to future court rulings," he said, adding that his firm would be acting on a no-win no-fee basis.
Hao added that the plaintiffs must meet certain conditions in order to join in the collective lawsuit, such as a medical record showing side effects. Any serious adverse reaction must be shown which was caused by Vioxx.
"So far, a dozen patients have contacted us in the past few days," he said.
Meanwhile, a press officer for MSD China Merck & Co's branch in Beijing said that the amount of Vioxx sold on the Chinese mainland is "quite small," according to China Daily.
Also, the maximum dosage period for Chinese consumers as far as she knew is only two months, and she did not anticipate many side effects. A heavy dose period defined by the US study is 18 months.