A gathering storm of litigation over the withdrawn drug Vioxx passed through Philadelphia last week and could be unleashed as soon as this spring.
About 250 lawyers from across the country, including indiana personal injury attorneys, took part in a litigation conference on the painkiller, which Merck & Co. removed from the market Sept. 30 after a clinical trial showed it doubled the risk of heart problems.
Merck has said 475 personal-injury cases involving Vioxx had been filed against the company as of Nov. 30, but attorneys attending the Philadelphia conference came armed with many more potential plaintiffs.
They heard scientific perspectives on Vioxx, strategic advice - and a good portion of outrage expressed at Merck from some of the leading lawyers involved in the litigation.
"The liability picture, from a corporate conduct standpoint, we feel, is very, very strong," said Andy Birchfield, one of the chairmen of the Philadelphia conference, told attendees in his opening remarks.
Birchfield, an attorney with the firm Beasley Allen of Montgomery, Ala., may have the first Vioxx case to go to trial, expected to begin as soon as May in Alabama. The conference's other chairman, Christopher Seeger of the New York-based firm Seeger Weiss, said a trial could begin as soon as June in Atlantic County court in New Jersey.