And do not be shocked by the compensation that the family is demanding. One billion dollars. It is four times what was awarded to the family of Robert Ernst who also died after taking Vioxx.

A jury of ten men and two women is going to decide if Merck hid the risks of the drug and if the drug caused the fatal heart attack of Leonel Garza. Since he did not take the drug for 18 months, Vioxx was not responsible, Merck's attorneys are arguing. However, Merck's credibility at this point is at its lowest level after it was learned that it repeatedly hid risks of the drug and tried to downplay the dangers of taking the painkiller even occasionally.

In the first trial in Texas, Carol Ernst the widow of another victim Robert Ernst was awarded a quarter billion dollars (though the actual amount will be smaller), and the federal trial is expected to resume next month after a mistrial. Merck won the lawsuit filed by Frederick "Mike" Humeston - the only alive person to sue the company. As many as 60,000 Americans have died after taking the arthritis medication.

The trial is expected to run through the end of March. Merck is facing almost 10,000 personal injury lawsuits at this time.

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Merck has resumed its attact on Vioxx victims hoping to minimize the number of lawsuits which now number over 9,000. The next product liability lawsuit is scheduled to go on trial later this month and it has been brought by the family members of Leonel Garza, a 71-year old man who died immediately after he took Vioxx for pain relief.

"We intend to defend these cases individually over many years," said Kenneth C. Frazier, senior vice president and general counsel of Merck in a written statement. "Merck acted responsibly - from researching VIOXX prior to approval in clinical trials involving almost 10,000 patients - to monitoring the medicine while it was on the market - to voluntarily withdrawing the medicine when it did."

The first case of Carol Ernst resulted in an award of over a quarter billion dollars while the second case resulted in a win for the company. The third case resulted in a mistrial and the case is scheduled to be retried in February.

Mr. Garza, died of a heart attack in 2001. Since he took the drug for less than 18 months, the company is expected to argue that Vioxx could not have caused his death. Many scientists now dispute Merck's research and the company has also lost its credibility further after it was found that its scientists did not disclose all the deaths in the VIGOR trial. The new evidence that has been presented by defense lawyers shows that even occasional or rare use of Vioxx can be a killer.

Texas State District Court Judge Alex W. Gabert will preside over the case. Joe Escobedo Jr. is the lead attorney representing the Garza family and Ted Mayer of Hughes Hubbard & Reed is the lead counsel for Merck.

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Vioxx safety blasted by UK medical journal

The Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) - a medical publication in the UK - has concluded that Vioxx is so dangerous that it should not be prescribed at all. It says that there were "few, if any, situations" in which the whole class of drugs, known as Cox-2 drugs, should be prescribed rather than traditional painkillers such as aspirin.

Dr Ike Iheanacho, the editor of the journal says, "There's little convincing evidence to suggest that coxibs offer useful advantages over traditional NSAIDs in most situations. And with mounting evidence that coxibs may cause severe cardiovascular problems, it's hard to justify using these treatments in preference to the older drugs."

Vioxx and Bextra - the two biggest Cox-2 drugs - have been banned worldwide while Celebrex is the only one available, though with a black box warning.

Jane Tadman, a spokeswoman for The Arthritis Research Campaign says, "The DTB's conclusions that the benefits of cox-2s are marginal and outweighed by potential safety concerns could prove to be if not the final nail, then certainly another nail in the coffin of this controversial class of drugs. We know that some hospital departments are sufficiently concerned to have already taken their arthritis patients off cox-2s, and put them back on the older non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs."

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