Recent Vytorin Drug Study Opens Floodgate of Lawsuits

The average person has most likely knows of the drug Vytorin because of the continual television ads we see each day. According to a Jan. 29, 2008 report in the National Law Journal, lawsuits are being filed against drug manufacturer Merck & Co., the creators of Vytorin, “faster than any of the lawyers can track.” Merck & Co. released an in house study, called Enhance, on Jan. 14, 2008, although the study was completed in 2006. The results of the Enhance study moved the company to pull all advertising for Vytorin on Jan 22, 2008.

Mary Trebilock of Caseyville, Ill. has filed one of the first lawsuits against Merck & Co. in the Midwest. The complaint, filed in St. Clair County Court in Illinois, asks for monetary damages that resulted from the purchase prices Plaintiffs and others in the class action paid for the Vytorin drug. Vytorin is a popular drug used for the treatment of high cholesterol. Plaintiffs are not seeking damages for physical or emotional injuries.

The Enhance study results reportedly show that Vytorin is no more effective than Zocor, another cholesterol drug on the market, at reducing plaque build up. The complaint states that Merck & Co. knowingly charged a much higher price for Vytorin than fair market value should allow, if not for Merck’s “omissions, suppressions, and/or concealments.” Zocor is a less expensive drug for the retail consumer.

The complaint shows that in 2004, Merck entered into an agreement with Schering-Plough to create and sell a new combination drug, Vytorin, composed of Zocor and Zetia.

Zetia, like Zocor, is a drug commonly used to treat high cholesterol. The company then charged a higher price for the new drug.

Trebilock’s complaint accuses drug makers of trying to avoid generic drug competition and possible loss of sales by combining drugs with old patents, creating a new drug with new patents. The complaint refers to the drug makers’ “patent extension tricks” as an attempt to “cushion the blow of the sales vacuum created by patent extensions.” “The drug companies’ methods of extending patents and creating partnerships are like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” the complaint states.

The National Law Journal report of January 2008 states that David Krangle, an attorney from Great Neck, N.Y., is working with lawyers from San Francisco, Houston, and Louisiana in order to facilitate the Vytorin class action lawsuits. Krangle explains that, in anticipation of a large number of litigants, joining counsel and resources allow the class action lawsuits to be handled more effectively.

In addition to the class action lawsuits, Merck & Co. is facing a possible congressional inquiry that questions why massive advertising campaigns continued 21 months after the company had the results of the Enhance study.