Almost a decade after the maker of rofecoxib (Vioxx) pulled the once-blockbuster pain killer from the market, the company settled a class action suit charging it with overselling the benefits of the Cox-2 inhibitor. It was Merck that pulled Vioxx from drugstore shelves on Sept. 30, 2004, but it was Merck Sharp & Dohme that settled this latest suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana for $23 million, which will come to about $50 for each patient included in the class. That settlement is a pittance compared with the settlement in the first Vioxx case -- $253 million awarded by a jury to the family of man who died in his sleep after taking the drug for 8 months.
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