Merck tries to regroup after trial setback

TRENTON, N.J. — Monday’s Columbus Day holiday gave Merck & Co. some extra time to regroup after Friday’s setback in the Vioxx product liability trial.

Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee on Friday struck the testimony of Merck researcher Dr. Briggs Morrison from the record, saying he was not an expert on the studies he had told the jury about Thursday, nor did Merck give the court sufficient notice about what he would discuss.

Following Higbee’s ruling Friday, Merck made its sixth request for a mistrial, saying that it is unfair to toss Morrison’s testimony. Higbee issued her sixth denial.

Merck spokesman Ted Mayer said Monday that while a mid-trial appeal to a higher court is being contemplated, no such action has been filed.

Merck lawyers will call new witnesses beginning Tuesday. There will be no testimony on Thursday, which is the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

Morrison was Merck’s opening witness in the month-old trial over whether Vioxx caused the 2001 heart attack of Boise, Idaho, postal worker Frederick “Mike” Humeston.

Merck in August lost its first multimillion-dollar product liability case in Texas over the death of another Vioxx user, and 5,000 similar lawsuits are pending. Merck voluntarily pulled the drug from the market a year ago after a study found Vioxx could double the risk of heart attack and stroke after 18 months of use.

But the Whitehouse Station-based company maintains that Humeston’s heart attack was unrelated to Vioxx, which he took only intermittently for about two months for a lingering knee injury sustained in the Vietnam War.

Vioxx, with 20 million users at its peak, was popular with chronic pain sufferers because it was gentler on the stomach than older anti-inflammatory pain relievers.