Merck Sued Over Fosamax Osteoporosis Drug

Ricky Bagolie

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It appears that New Jersey based Merck & Co, is at it again. They have just been sued over their osteoporosis drug Fosamax. The lawsuit alleges that Fosamax is a defective product because it can cause osteonecrosis (ONJ) of the jaw also known as "dead jaw or a rotting of the jaw bone and that Merck concealed and continues to hide Fosamax's potentially dangerous side effects from patients and doctors.

As hall -of -famer and baseball great Yogi Berra said, "It seems like it's deja vu all over again" as this lawsuit over Fosamax has all the earmarks of the Vioxx lawsuits which also claims that the drug giant concealed the dangerous side effects from patients and doctors.

Merck faces nearly 10,000 lawsuits over Vioxx, which it withdrew from the market in September 2004 after a study showed it doubled patients' risk of heart attacks and strokes. New Jersey jury recently ordered Merck to pay $4.5 million in compensatory damages and $9 million in punitive damages to a 77-year-old diabetic who took Vioxx for four years.

Although it is hard to tell just how many people have been injured by Fosamax , it's sales exceed $3 billion per year. If Merck did conceal the studies, it should be held accountable to those people who suffer from this horrible and painful injury.