Lake jackson, texas (ap) - drug-maker
merck & co.'s blistering defeat in the
nation's first vioxx trial was only round
one in a series of expected court battles
in the coming months, many of them
involving plaintiffs who have some major
advantages. The link between the
patients' health problems and vioxx is
already well established. They suffered
heart attacks; merck yanked the drug from
the market last year because a study
showed it doubled patients' risk of heart
attacks and strokes.