Jury clears Merck in latest Vioxx trial
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From the Associated Press
A federal jury cleared Merck & Co. in the July 2003 heart attack suffered by a Utah bank credit manager who had taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx for 10 1/2 months.
Charles Laron “Ron” Mason, 64, of Salt Lake County, Utah, began taking Vioxx after years of taking anti-inflammatory drugs because of back pain.
Merck won two previous federal cases and lost the third. In state court, it has won three cases and lost three. Jurors decided a fourth case in Merck’s favor, but the judge later ordered a retrial.
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