A class-action lawsuit was filed against the US based medicine manufacturing company Merck & Co for the arthritis painkiller Vioxx. The Company has been charged for not providing about the information of cardiovascular risks associated to the drug.

An Australian patient had filed a case against the company after the medicine was recollected from the medicinal stores. The patient claimed that the medicine has been responsible for his experiencing of a heart attack in the year 2003. The Federal court favored the patient Graeme Peterson and charged the Company with a penalty of 287,000 Australian dollars that is to be paid to Mr. Peterson.

The medicine was recalled from the market overseas in the year 2004 and a research was conducted on the aspect of its being associated with susceptibility to hear attack the research proved that the medicine resulted in increasing the chances of heart attack among the consumers. As a result of the revelation the Company had pay a compensation of $4.85 billion to the patients associated with the lawsuit.

Opposing the verdict as announced by the judge Christopher Jessup, Merck Sharpe & Dohme made a further appeal to reconsider the judgment. The Company stated that it was not accountable for the damages incurred by the consumers. The Company proved that there was no medicinal certification that proved that Mr. Peterson experienced a heart attack due to Vioxx. The patient was already at a risk of heart attack by 51 times due to his habit of smoking.