Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s Attorney General has reached the largest-ever settlement in a case involving improper marketing of a prescription drug.

For three years, Oregon state attorneys have been suing the pharmaceutical giant, Merck, over its anti-inflammatory drug, Vioxx.

The drug was pulled from the market three and a half years ago, after it was found to raise the risk of heart attack.

Now, Merck has agreed to pay $58 million to states over improper marketing.

Jan Margosian with the Oregon AG’s office, says Merck has also agreed to change the way it tells doctors and patients about its products – beginning with TV ads.

Jan Margosian: “FDA has got to approve ads. They’ve got to have all this information on scientific studies, that’s right up front and clear. They can’t have people on the monitoring boards that are connected to them. They can’t ghost-write articles in scientific medical journals.”

As lead plaintiff, Oregon is going to get more money than most other states. Oregon’s $2.8 million share will go to the Department of Justice’s consumer protection fund.