First Vioxx trial begins in Texas

ANGLETON, Texas -- The nation's first Vioxx-related lawsuit to go to trial opened yesterday with the plaintiff's lawyer contending that Merck & Co. traded its mission of treating sickness for relentless marketing and pursuit of profits.

Attorney Mark Lanier displayed the phrase ''Merck-y ethics" on a large screen and promised to skewer the judgment of a company he said knew the popular painkiller could be dangerous years before a study showed it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke. That study prompted Merck to voluntarily remove it from the market last year.

In a much more subdued presentation, Merck lawyer David Kiernan, who is also a surgeon, urged jurors to keep an open mind as Merck seeks to show the company didn't rush a lucrative drug to market and slip shoddy science past the Food and Drug Administration to pump up profits.

''That charge could not be more false," he said.

Lanier is representing Carol Ernst, whose husband died in his sleep four years ago of an arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. Robert Ernst, a personal trainer, had been taking Vioxx for about eight months to ease pain in his hands.

Lawyers from throughout the country associated with other Vioxx lawsuits packed the courtroom for the opening statements before a 12-member jury. The trial resumes Monday with the beginning of testimony.

Kiernan said Vioxx has been in development since 1991 and cut in half the potentially lethal stomach bleeding that some patients got from traditional pain relievers like aspirin.

Vioxx was tested in 58 clinical trials involving 10,000 patients before it went on the market, he said, far surpassing FDA testing recommendations