Firm News: Drugs & Devices: Page 13

A former Accutane user was awarded $9 million by a New Jersey jury against Hoffmann La-Roche Inc. and Roche Laboratories, subsidiaries of Roche Holding AG (ROG). The pharmaceutical companies are based in Nutley, N.J. The plaintiff, one of four in a combined trial, took Accutane for acne treatment from 1997-1998 when she was a teenager. …

Weitz & Luxenberg client John McDarby, 77, and his wife were rewarded a $4.5 million dollar verdict and $9 million in punitive damages from a New Jersey jury in one of the first Vioxx trial cases against Merck. ”The verdict is a victory for the 100,000 Americans who had heart attacks from Vioxx,” said lawyer Robert Gordon.…