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Merck to Pay $58 Million to Settle Claims Over Deceptive Vioxx Ads

Merck has reached a $58 million deal with 29 states and the District of Columbia to settle consumer-protection lawsuits over advertising claims for the recalled pain drug Vioxx.

The settlement, reached with the attorneys general in each participating jurisdiction, requires the company to stop using misleading scientific data in promotional campaigns aimed at consumers and health care professionals.

It also prohibits the New Jersey drug maker from using "ghost writers" to write scientific articles favoring its products and paying noted medical community members to falsely claim that they wrote the material.

In addition Merck is barred from sponsoring promotional speakers at medical conferences if its relationship with the speakers creates a conflict of interest.

The states, led by California, Texas and Florida, accused the company of mounting an "aggressive and deceptive" promotional campaign when it launched Vioxx in May 1999.

The suits alleged that the company engaged in the "selective releasing" of data from clinical studies to put the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug in a positive light and concealed information on the drug's link to strokes and heart attacks.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in September 2004 amid publicity over an increasing number of cardiovascular risks associated with the drug.

The separate actions were consolidated for joint settlement discussions with Merck by a "multi-state working group" composed of the attorneys general and other officials from each participating jurisdiction.

Each jurisdiction will share the $58 million settlement through the joint resolution of the state and local consumer-law-based claims, according to the company.

Under the settlement, Merck must delay any direct-to-consumer television advertising for pain drugs if the Food and Drug Administration requests such a measure and must first submit the ads for agency review.

The settlement will remain in effect for 10 years.

Product liability suits by former Vioxx users were consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, where a $4.85 billion settlement is under way.

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