A setback today for plaintiffs in the Vioxx appeals court trials in New Jersey and Texas against Merck, the drugmaker. Although Vioxx was finally pulled from shelves in 2004, litigation against Merck has been ongoing for years.

Laywers claimed that Vioxx caused a fatal heart problem in Robert Ernst, setting off a blood clot. However, a Texas court found no evidence for Vioxx as the cause of his heart attack. Lawyers had originally won a $253 million verdict, later reduced to $26 million. Read the rest of this entry »

There have been so many people diagnosed with cancer over recent years. It almost seems to be more frequent than less, depite the advances being made. Stand Up To Cancer, announced today by Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams, is an event planned for September where all three networks will do a prime time broadcast simultaneously.

The subject of cancer touches close to home, and Stand Up To Cancer is a great idea. A close friend with a family history of breast cancer was just diagnosed. Unbelievably, she’s a research pharmacist who has worked in breast cancer research for almost 20 years. She helped her company, a major pharmaceutical company, work on breast cancer treatment drugs used in chemotherapy. She’s obviously very familiar with what’s available for breast cancer treatment, because she stays up to date with all the latest research. Read the rest of this entry »