On August 19, 2005, a jury in Angleton, Texas, found Vioxx producer Merck liable for the death of fifty-nine-year-old Robert Ernst. The Brazoria county jury assessed a staggering $253 million ($24 million compensatory, $229 million punitive) in damages against Merck, although Texas law will cap the punitive damages at less than $2 million and thus reduce the total award to about $26 million. 

What implications does this verdict have for drug development, for the pharmaceutical industry, and for the justice system? What consequences will this verdict have for consumers? Is further liability reform needed, or is the current jury trial system an appropriate means of regulating drug safety?

AEI will host a panel discussion to address these and other questions surrounding the Texas verdict and ongoing pharmaceutical litigation. The panel will include Dan Troy, former chief counsel of the Food & Drug Administration and currently of Sidley & Austin; Evan Schaeffer of Schaeffer & Lamere, P.C., a plaintiffs' attorney from Madison County, Illinois, whose firm, along with two other St. Louis firms, has filed suit against Merck on behalf of approximately 1,000 Vioxx users; AEI resident scholar John E. Calfee, who studies pharmaceutical regulation; and AEI resident fellow Ted Frank, who is director of the AEI Liability Project and a former defense attorney who worked on several Vioxx cases.

The AEI Liability Project (http://www.liabilityproject.org) seeks to promote a better understanding of the scope and consequences of the liability crisis and to help ensure that political or legal reform efforts are aimed at the appropriate targets.