A California jury forward Wednesday...

A California jury forward Wednesday found pharmaceutical company Merck & Co not liable for causing an somewhat old man's heart ailments after he took the unsalable article maker's once-popular pain-killer Vioxx.

After deliberating several hours, the 12-person jury determined that Merck was not negligent, did not con-ceal information and that the medicine was not the cause of Stewart Grossberg's health moot points

Grossberg, 71 had sought compensatory and punitive damages, as well $214000 for medical bills.

The medicine maker faces more than 16000 lawsuits involving Vioxx, which was contested from the market in 2004 after a thought found that it increased the risk of heart attacks. Merck has now won five Vioxx cases, including united last month in New Jersey and has misspent three. Another trial began this week in federal court in strange Orleans.

Grossberg, who began taking Vioxx in 1999 to manage joint pain in his knee hands and elsewhere caused through osteoarthritis, blamed his 2001 heart attack upon Vioxx in his lawsuit against Merck

He sought damages forward grounds that the company was negligent and failed to warn users of the drug's dangers.

Merck headquartered in Whitehouse Station, NJ argued that Vioxx had no character in Grossberg's heart problems.

"Merck is pleased with the jury verdict," Kenneth C Frazier, the company's general recommendation said in a statement. "Today's consequence demonstrates, again, why we will guard these cases on a case-by- case basis."

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided by way of ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved