Several hundred Irish people are likely to join a court action in the US against pharmaceutical giant, Merck, after suffering side effects from one of the company's drugs.
Last September, Merck withdrew arthritis treatment drug Vioxx from sale after it emerged that it increased the risk of heart disease and strokes. Since then, US law firms have begun suing the company on behalf of clients who suffered from the drug.
Research published last year claims the company should have known about the dangers the drug posed to consumers for four years before it was withdrawn.
The Irish Times learned yesterday that Carlow and Dublin-based Malcomson Law will represent several hundred Irish people in a class action against Merck being taken by US attorneys, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein.
Managing partner Mr Raymond Bradley said yesterday that the firm was processing several hundred cases, and was still getting queries from potential plaintiffs.
Class actions are single cases taken by groups of people with similar claims against the same defendant or defendants. They are not possible under Irish law, but are common in the US where plaintiffs often number well into the hundreds.
Mr Bradley said that it was possible under US law for Irish people to take or join class actions in that country.
A spokeswoman in Merck's headquarters in New Jersey in the US, said yesterday that the company was facing 475 different cases, and stressed that it planned to defend all of them.
"We have a strong and meritorious defence against litigation regarding Vioxx and we plan to defend the company vigorously," she said.
