DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Merck & Co. (MRK) and Schering-Plough Corp. (SGP) have
agreed to pay $41.5 million to settle class-action lawsuits related
to Vytorin and Zetia, two drugs related to their cholesterol joint
venture.
Last month, the companies agreed to pay $5.4 million and comply
with certain rules to settle a probe by 35 U.S. states and the
District of Columbia into whether their handling of the Enhance
study violated consumer-protection laws.
Merck's shares were recently up 0.6%, or 19 cents, at $30.03 in
premarket trading. Schering-Plough was inactive.
The suits being settled make allegations about the safety and
usefulness of Vytorin and Zetia based on the Enhance clinical
trial, whose results were released in January 2008 and showed that
Vytorin - a single-pill combination of Zetia and the drug
simvastatin - was no better than simvastatin alone at slowing
artery thickening. The companies came under criticism last year
beacuse they waited nearly two years from the Enhance study's
completion to release the results.
Merck general counsel Bruce N. Kuhlik said the settlements will
allow the companies to avoid continuing costs related to defending
the drugs and focus on developing new medicines.
The settlement will resolve all of the class-action lawsuits
that seek economic damages related to the purchase of Vytorin and
Zetia, the companies said. They have disclosed in the past more
than 140 lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court for the
District of New Jersey.
Merck and Schering-Plough said the settlements aren't an
admission of misconduct or liability related to the marketing or
sale of the two drugs or the Enhance study.
The two companies have also faced separate lawsuits over their
pending $47 billion merger, which remains on track to close during
the fourth quarter.
-By Kerry Grace Benn, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2353;
kerry.benn@dowjones.com