"Shares of Merck & Co. fell Friday immediately after a Texas jury found the pharmaceutical giant liable in the first trial involving a death linked to its Vioxx painkiller. The man's widow was awarded $253.4 million in damages.
"Although Whitehouse Station-based Merck plans an appeal, the uncertainty from thousands of other cases pending around the nation will be a drag on share price, said analyst Jon LeCroy at Natexis Bleichroeder Inc." [Newsday.com]
