VIOXX: ITALIAN CONSUMERS START CLASS ACTION AGAINST MERCK

(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Sep 1 - Italian customers having been prescribed Vioxx produced by pharmaceutical company Merck can contact Italian consumer association Codacons if they wish to partake in the class-action in US courts.

The case is being brought to bear after the drug was found to have damaging side-effects. Choosing US courts de facto sets a limit to the time available to submit for damages. "According to Food and Drug Administration reports Vioxx has been deemed responsible for the death of some 27 thousand persons due to sudden heart attack", reads a Codacons communique'.

Codacons also specifies that the interests of some 100 Italian citizens have been brought to bear. "The pharmaceutical company has been forced by Illinois judge - says Chicago based Codancons lawyer Kenneth Moll - to pay 250 million dollars to the families of the victims for having deliberately covered up the nature of the drug's negative side-effects".

In the US alone some 240 thousand citizens are claiming damages. The courts are yet to designate eligibility criteria. According to Codacons as many as 3.5 million Italians may have taken Vioxx at some stage.

Codacons has also drawn up a blacklist of dangerous drugs: 28 drugs in all, 15 active ingredients; top of the list are Bextra (valdecobix) and celebrex (celecobix) leading to requests by consumers and the Italian drug agency AIFA for them to be banned. (AGI)