First Coast News, "Vioxx Jury Awards $47.5M to Idaho Couple"

          Merck & Co.'s painkiller Vioxx contributed to an Idaho postal worker's heart attack, a jury in Atlantic City ruled Monday, reversing the verdict in the man's first trial and hitting Merck with a total of $47.5 million in damages. In one of Merck's biggest losses over the drug so far, the jurors awarded the man and his wife $20 million in compensatory damages Monday morning, then later said Merck should pay $27.5 million in punitive damages.
          The verdict in the case of Frederick "Mike" Humeston, who was granted a second trial in light of new evidence, means Merck has now won nine cases and lost five in the mushrooming litigation over its former blockbuster arthritis pill. Humeston, 61, of Boise, Idaho, suffered a heart attack in September 2001, several months before Merck - under pressure from federal regulators - put a stronger warning about the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx on the drug's detailed package insert.
          The five-man, three-woman jury ruled on March 2 that Merck was negligent and did not provide adequate warning about those risks before Humeston's heart attack. The jurors, after deliberating for about five hours over two days, awarded Humeston $18 million in compensatory damages for pain and suffering and gave $2 million to his wife, Mary. Then, after brief arguments over punitive damages, the jury deliberated briefly late Monday afternoon and decided to assess $27.5 million in punitive damages against Merck. "This is why you keep fighting," said Humeston's lawyer. "A little guy from Idaho took on Merck and beat them big time."

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