Zostavax Plaintiffs Urge Appellate Revival of Shingles Lawsuits

More than 1,000 Zostavax plaintiffs who say the Merck & Co. shingles shot caused them to get shingles are asking the Third Circuit to reinstate their suits, arguing that a district court’s group dismissal deprived them of their right to present evidence and have their individual cases heard.

The Zostavax lawsuits were combined in a multidistrict proceeding before Judge Harvey Bartle III of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Bartle granted summary judgment for Merck in five test cases, saying the plaintiffs didn’t establish that the shot—as opposed to reactivated wild virus in their bodies from ...