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Merck extends deadline for Vioxx settlement
NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Merck & Co (MRK.N) said on Thursday at
least 94 percent of eligible U.S. claimants have elected to
participate in its $4.85 billion proposed Vioxx settlement, and
the drugmaker extended the deadline for the remainder to join
in.
Merck said that, while it was satisfied with signing up the
vast majority of potential participants, it was extending by
two months -- until June 30 -- the deadline for remaining
eligible former users of its withdrawn arthritis drug to enroll
in its proposed settlement.
The company has said it would not commit itself to the
settlement until at least 85 percent of eligible patients
elected to participate, said Kent Jarrell, a legal spokesman
for Merck.
To be eligible for the proposed settlement, patients or
their survivors had to have filed a Vioxx product liability
lawsuit in the United States by November 9, or have signaled
officially by then their intent to file a lawsuit for alleged
heart attacks, stroke or death as a result of Vioxx.
"We are very satisfied with the way the numbers are coming
in," Jarrell said late on Thursday.
Vioxx was withdrawn from U.S. drugstores in September 2004
after a Merck study showed that long-term users of the drug had
twice the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Merck said more than 28,250 eligible heart attack claimants
had enrolled in the settlement, along with more than 16,750
eligible stroke claimants, as of March 31.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson, editing by Richard Chang)
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