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A federal jury in New Orleans on Wednesday found the drug maker Merck & Co. not liable for a heart attack suffered in 2003 by a Utah bank credit manager who'd taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx for 10 and a half months.
Charles Laron "Ron" Mason, 64, of Salt Lake County, began taking Vioxx after years of taking anti-inflammatory drugs because of back pain, the Associated Press reported.
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The case was the 11th to be tried and the fourth in federal court. Merck won two previous federal cases and lost the third. In state court, the company has won three, and lost three, the news service said.
Mason is among more than 24,000 people and corporations who have sued Merck since it withdrew the drug from the market in 2004 because of evidence that Vioxx doubled patients' risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Another 15,000 potential plaintiffs have agreements temporarily suspending the time to sue, and Merck disclosed last week that a Canadian judge has approved a class-action suit for residents of Quebec, the AP said.
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