Arthritis drug Vioxx not fit for sale, judge rules
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MELBOURNE, March 5 AAP
March 05 2010, 10:40AM
The arthritis drug Vioxx was not fit for sale because it doubled the risk of heart attacks, a judge has found.
Federal Court judge Christopher Jessop awarded compensation on Friday to Graeme Peterson, who claimed the drug caused him to have a heart attack in 2003.
Mr Peterson sued US pharmaceutical giant Merck claiming he was no longer able to work because of the heart attack.
On Friday Judge Jessop found Vioxx was "not of merchantable quality" and was not fit for the purpose of arthritic relief.
"I have concluded that across a population the consumption of Vioxx about doubled the risk of heart attack," Judge Jessop said.
"I have held that because Vioxx involved about a doubling of the risk of heart attack, it was not reasonably fit for the purpose of being used for the relief of arthritic pain."
An amount of compensation will be determined at a later date.
Listed legal firm Slater and Gordon Ltd, which argued the case against Vioxx, went into a trading halt before the market opened on Friday, and before the judgement was handed down at 0930 AEDT.
In a statement, Slater and Gordon said it had taken on the case on a "no win, no fee" basis.
"This means that if the proceedings are ultimately unsuccessful, the company will not be entitled to recover professional costs for the work performed or the disbursements... incurred on behalf of clients."
Slater and Gordon asked for the trading halt to avoid trading in its shares taking place "in an uninformed market".
