On Aug. 29, federal District Judge
Lee Yeakel denied pharmaceutical giant
Merck & Co.'s attempt to have a lawsuit filed against the company by the state of Texas removed to federal court in Louisiana and lumped in with hundreds of other pending suits related to the
Vioxx pain medication. Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott filed suit against Merck on June 30, seeking millions in damages against the company for "willfully" misrepresenting the safety of Vioxx (which was pulled from the market late last year) and for suppressing evidence from Merck's own clinical trials that revealed that the drug causes an increased risk of heart attack and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems. Abbott's suit alleges that the company ignored those findings and instead lobbied aggressively, and successfully, to have Vioxx included on Texas' list of
Medicaid-reimbursable drugs. By the time Vioxx was yanked from the market, its inclusion on that list meant the Texas Medicaid system had reimbursed pharmacists $56 for each Vioxx prescription filled during the five years that the drug was on the market – for a total of more than $56 million in direct state Medicaid costs.
Merck has made two attempts to get rid of the lawsuit – first by trying to move it to federal district court and then by trying to consolidate it with numerous other cases pending in Louisiana – both of which Yeakel denied last week, opining in part that Abbott's suit raises the question of whether Merck violated state and not federal Medicaid laws. In so doing, Yeakel dismissed Merck's bid to stay court proceedings and remanded the suit to Travis Co. District Court. Abbott was, predictably, happy, and said he is now seeking a trial date. "I am pleased [that Yeakel] concluded that Merck made a wrong move by trying to run from justice in a Texas state court," Abbott said in a press release. "We now look forward to a speedy trial and justice in this case."
