http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aHgZIu2X5wps&refer=us April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. shares fell as much as 5.6 percent in Germany after a New Jersey jury ruled the drugmaker must pay at least $4.5 million to a 77-year-old man who claimed its painkiller Vioxx caused his heart attack.
The stock dropped 1.19 euros to 27.95 euros ($34.37) at 10:19 a.m. in Germany after closing yesterday at $35.99 in New York. The verdict was announced after the close of U.S. trading.
Jurors will weigh punitive damages today after finding Vioxx played a role in the heart attack of John McDarby, a wheelchair-bound diabetic. Jurors found Merck failed to warn McDarby and another plaintiff, Thomas Cona, of the drug's risks. Vioxx played no role in Cona's heart attack, jurors said.
``This may hurt sentiment a little today, but there are so many individual cases that one won't steer the rest,'' Thomas Brenning, an analyst at Helaba Trust in Frankfurt, said in telephone interview. ``This one was played up because the risk factors for a 77-year-old patient were believed to have made it more difficult to prove a case against Merck.''
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