NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge has overturned a $50 million damages award in the latest of Merck's legal battles over withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.
According to a report Wednesday on CNBC, the court threw out the New Orleans jury's award handed down earlier this month but let the verdict against Merck stand.
The case marked the fourth loss for Merck in lawsuits brought by plaintiffs alleging their use of the withdrawn COX 2 inhibitor drug caused their heart attacks. Merck has also racked up five legal wins against the claimants.
With the exception of a verdict handed down last April by a Texas court, the drug maker has prevailed in all of the suits filed by plaintiffs who had only been taking Vioxx for a relatively short time -- typically a few weeks -- before suffering a heart attack.
Merck has opted to defend the roughly 13,000 pending Vioxx lawsuits on an individual basis.
