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TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today sued Merck and Company, Inc. on behalf of Florida state agencies damaged by the company’s allegedly deceptive marketing and promotion of one of its prescription drugs. According to the lawsuit, the company’s repeated failure to disclose the adverse effects of prescription drug Vioxx while offering it to the state’s Medicaid program as a safe painkiller directly violates Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Vioxx is a non-steroid anti-inflammatory used to treat joint pain and was one of the most widely prescribed and advertised drugs until its removal from the market in 2004. The lawsuit follows a three-year investigation of Merck’s promotional practices of Vioxx and alleges that, due to the company’s marketing practices, numerous state agencies approved the inclusion of Vioxx as a covered or approved drug and agreed to pay for the prescription or reimburse its expense. Vioxx purchases by the Florida Medicaid program alone exceeded $80 million between 1999 and 2004.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit claims Merck’s costly promotional campaign was intended to convince purchasers that the drug was not only safe, but that they should demand it from their health care professionals for pain treatment. The company also allegedly tried to intimidate physicians and researchers who questioned the safety of Vioxx and may have misrepresented or concealed published evidence, including its own, showing possible harmful effects of the drug.

The Attorney General contends that if the facts about Vioxx had been known earlier, physicians and their Medicaid patients would have chosen other, less expensive prescriptions. The lawsuit demands restitution to the State of Florida, plus interest, for all state program payments – including Medicaid reimbursements – made for Vioxx prescriptions. The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation of the law.

A copy of the lawsuit is available online here.