Zocor Product Liability Suit Dismissed

A man’s complaint alleging Merck’s cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor carried insufficient warnings about muscle damage properly was dismissed, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said March 9 (Thurston v. Merck & Co.).

The Food and Drug Administration approved a warning label for Zocor that lists both “myopathy” (muscle damage) and “rhabdomyolysis” (a form of myopathy affecting skeletal muscle tissue) as known side effects, the court said. The plaintiff’s claim, therefore, fails because under Texas law, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §82.007(a), an FDA-approved warning label is presumed to be adequate unless the plaintiff can satisfy ...