Merck Sued by Doctor Who Prescribed Vioxx, Had Own Heart Attack

March 9 (Bloomberg) --A doctor who will testify today against Merck & Co. in a trial over the company's Vioxx painkiller had a heart attack after taking the drug and is suing the company.
Dr. John Braun, 52, sued Merck and blames his 2004 heart attack on the Vioxx he said he took for 21 months. Braun will testify by videotape today at the trial of a lawsuit brought John McDarby, 77, who had a heart attack in 2004 after taking Vioxx for four years. Braun prescribed Vioxx for McDarby.
`I would never have taken the drug, nor would I have prescribed it to any of my patients, had I known of any of the risks,'' Braun said late yesterday in an interview. ``You assume that when someone comes in to the office with literature about the drug that what they're telling you is true. You assume this drug is safe.''
McDarby's suit in Atlantic City, New Jersey is the fifth to go to trial over claims that Vioxx caused heart attacks and strokes. Merck, the No. 4 U.S. drugmaker, withdrew Vioxx when a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks after 18 months of use. Merck faces 10,000 lawsuits. It won two cases at trial and lost one.
A jury is considering lawsuits by McDarby and another man, Thomas Cona, 59, who each blame their heart attack on the drug. Aside from McDarby's case, another trial is under way in Texas. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, set aside $970 million for legal costs and nothing for liability.
Lawyers for McDarby and Merck agreed jurors won't be told about Braun's heart attack because it might prejudice them. Braun has said he no longer sees Merck sales representatives because they weren't truthful about Vioxx's risks before the company withdrew the drug in September 2004.
Patients' Claims
McDarby and Cona claim Merck failed to warn doctors of the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx. Merck says it properly researched the drug and warned of its risks, and Cona and McDarby had heart attacks because of their health risks, not Vioxx. McDarby, a diabetic with arthritis, had coronary artery disease, and high blood pressure and cholesterol, Merck says.
Braun, who treated McDarby for five years, has been a family practitioner in Oradell, New Jersey, for 18 years, court records show. He began taking free samples of Vioxx in November 2002 for neck pain, according to his pre-trial deposition on Feb. 1. He liked Vioxx so much he gave it to his wife and sister, he said.
Braun said he continued to take Vioxx and found it more effective than two Pfizer Inc. painkillers, Bextra and Celebrex. He said he arrived on Aug. 10, 2004, at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey, to see patients. His heart attack there followed a ventricular fibrillation, or chaotic heartbeat.
`On the Floor'
``I was found on the floor in V fib arrest,'' said Braun, a father of three young children, in his deposition. ``Bleeding from the lip and unconscious and no pulse.''
Five days later, he woke up at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, with no memory of the attack, he said. A cardiologist had removed a clot ``the size of a Grand Canyon'' in his left anterior descending artery, he said.
An attorney for Merck, Chuck Harrell, said both sides agreed that the McDarby jurors won't hear about Braun's heart attack.
``By stipulation of the parties, Dr. Braun won't be asked about his pending lawsuit or his use of Vioxx because it's not relevant to the issues in this case,'' said Harrell, of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada in Jackson, Mississippi.
Braun said he had no family history of heart disease and no other risk factors. He concluded Vioxx caused his heart attack, his deposition said. His suit, filed last May, is one of 5,100 before Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee. She is presiding at the Cona and McDarby trial, which began March 6.
220 Visits
McDarby's attorney, Robert Gordon, told jurors that Braun got 220 visits from 17 Merck sales representatives about Vioxx between 1999 and 2004. Jurors heard testimony that thousands of sales representatives gave away millions of free samples of Vioxx during the biggest drug launch campaign in the history of Merck.
Braun said in a Feb. 9 deposition that he saw two Merck representatives a week. He said the sales force reassured him that Vioxx was safe after a March 2000 study found that patients on the drug had five times more heart attacks than those on another painkiller, naproxen.
Braun said the sales representatives never told him that Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks or blood clots. Gordon said that two of those drug representatives are expected to testify today about visiting Braun.
The cases are Cona v. Merck & Co., L-3553-05 and McDarby v. Merck & Co., L-1296-05, and Braun v. Merck, L-2911-05, Superior Court, New Jersey (Atlantic City).