In addition to the several hundred arbitration lawsuits (better known as "individual" lawsuits), there are two class action lawsuits on the books as having been initiated against drug manufacturer Merck & Co. in relation to Fosamax and its links to a medical condition known as osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) - an extremely painful and most often disfiguring condition that currently has no cure without a cure.
Litigation Timeline
2006: A class action lawsuit was in April of 2006 at the U.S. District Court located in Fort Meyers, Florida. The suit was filed againgst drug company Merck and alleges that Fosamax was the cause of osteonecrosis of the jaw developing in some of the patients taking the drug.
2007: An additional class action suit was filed claiming that Merck Frosst Canada had failed to properly notify and warn consumers that one of the company's medications were associated with a higher risk of contracting osteonecrosis of the jaw. Additionally, this same class action names New Jersey parent company, Merck & Co., as one of the defendents
Merck disclosed that the company has earmarked $48 million for a defense fund to fight the cases against them that allege Fosamax causes osteonecrosis of the jaw. The vast majority of these cases were filed in federal courts.
2008: The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York deferred multiple cases to the state courts in Floriday, California and Illinois in July of 2008. Additionally, the Court attributed the fees and costs of the removing the cases from federal court to Merck.
2010: The Manhattan based federal district court scheduled the Boles v Merck retrial for the 7th of June, 2010. Attorneys for the plaintiff have stated their intent to sequester a Merck witness in order to establish that Merck had been notified by FDA to change the labeling for Fosamax labeling in 2007.
On January 29th, a federal judge Manhattan decided not to throwout a lawsuit that alleges Fosamax was the cause for jaw damage suffered by an Indiana woman.
The aformentioned cases all allege that Merck & Co. did not properly research and study Fosamax, nor did they warn about the dangers of ONJ and associated jaw problems. To date, there are close to 900 civil lawsuits that have been filed against Merck & Co. in relation to Fosamax
