Merck to face New York State and New York City in joint lawsuit

The drug company Merck is facing joint action from New York State and New York City over the millions which were spent on health programs related to the drug Vioxx.

Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in 2004 because of the dangerous side effects of the pain medication among long-term users.

The state and city governments want to be reimbursed for the millions of dollars they spent on prescriptions for the arthritis drug which they say would never have been written if doctors had been properly informed of the risks.

The law suit claims Merck deliberately withheld information regarding the side effects of Vioxx which include a vastly increased risk of heart attacks and strokes; they maintain the company therefore defrauded the state's Medicaid program, which paid for the government-sponsored prescriptions.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says even as the evidence was piling up showing just how dangerous the drug was, Merck put profits above all else.

Cuomo says the drug company's irresponsible and duplicitous conduct endangered the health of New Yorkers and wasted tax dollars; between 1999 and 2004 Medicaid and EPIC spent more than $100 million on Vioxx prescriptions in New York State.

The lawsuit which has been filed in the New York State Supreme Court, seeks damages, penalties and restitution for "tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wrongfully spent on Vioxx prescriptions".

Merck is also facing thousands of lawsuits by former users of Vioxx who claim they were harmed by the drug and the company has also been sued by insurance companies and HMOs seeking to be reimbursed for their costs for the drug.

Merck claims it has acted responsibly, from researching the drug prior to approval, to monitoring the drug while is was on the market, to voluntarily withdrawing the drug when it did.