Cartwright Law Firm on California Vioxx Steering Committee: $4.85 Billion National Settlement

Merck launched rofecoxib, sold as Vioxx, in 1999 as a prescription-strength anti-inflammatory. The drug became one of the bestselling medicines in the world, taken by more than 80 million patients globally, before internal and published research exposed a serious problem. A 2000 clinical trial called VIGOR showed a five-fold higher rate of heart attacks among Vioxx patients compared to those taking naproxen. Merck attributed the difference to naproxen's cardioprotective properties rather than any toxicity in Vioxx itself.

The cover provided by that explanation eroded as additional data accumulated. A later placebo-controlled study, APPROVe, halted early when researchers confirmed an excess of cardiovascular events in the rofecoxib group beginning after 18 months of use. On September 30, 2004, Merck withdrew Vioxx from the global market, acknowledging the cardiovascular risk the VIGOR data had first flagged four years earlier.

The Cartwright Law Firm filed one of California's earliest products liability actions against Merck in 2002, before the withdrawal, acting on the cardiovascular signals already visible in the published literature. California became the first state to consolidate its Vioxx cases into a coordinated proceeding, designated JCCP No. 4247, assigned to Los Angeles Superior Court. Robert Cartwright Jr. earned appointment to the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee governing the California coordinated actions, one of the leadership roles that shaped litigation strategy and settlement negotiations as the case grew to national scale.

By late 2007 the California state proceedings, the New Jersey state litigation, and the federal multidistrict docket in the Eastern District of Louisiana (MDL-1657) were operating in parallel. On November 9, 2007, Merck and a negotiating committee of plaintiffs' counsel announced a global resolution requiring Merck to fund a $4.85 billion settlement program. The agreement covered the substantial majority of pending Vioxx claims throughout the country. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney coordinated the California component of the settlement approval process alongside her federal counterparts.

The $4.85 billion figure represented the aggregate fund available to all participating claimants. The Cartwright Law Firm's share on behalf of its individual California clients was not separately disclosed as part of the national announcement. The case stood as the largest drug-litigation settlement at the time it was reached.