Merck & Co. is reporting that a jury in New Jersey federal court ruled in its favor in the second of 3,300 Fosamax lawsuits alleging femur fractures stemming from use of the osteoporosis drug, according to Bloomberg.com. The verdict reached in a Trenton, New Jersey courtroom could not be immediately confirmed in court documents after it was released in a statement from the U.S. drugmaker, the April 29th report indicated. This case filed in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey was brought by a 58-year old woman from Cohoes, New York who suffered a spontaneous femur fracture while gardening. That injury, which she alleges required surgery later on, stemmed from her use of Fosamax. Her Fosamax lawsuit states that Merck marketed the bone-loss drug for years despite its knowledge that it may cause brittle bones and increase the risk for femur fractures, which are a particularly unusual injury since the femur is one of the strongest bones in the body and the hardest to break. The company failed to warn consumers about the medication’s side effects, she claims. Fosamax lawyers for Merck disagreed with these allegations, however, stating that “The company provided appropriate and timely information about Fosamax to consumers and the medical, scientific and regulatory communities.” The plaintiff’s counsel has said the Court’s decision to rule in Merck’s favor has not derailed its efforts to hold the company liable for failing to warn about the medication’s risks. “We are of disappointed in the verdict in Mrs. Glynn’s case,” the woman’s Fosamax attorneys said in an e-mail. “We will, however, continue the important efforts to hold Merck accountable for their conduct with respect to Fosamax.” The plaintiff, who filed the Fosamax lawsuit, says she enjoys long bike rides and yoga classes and felt her thigh bone snap two years earlier when she bent over to pick up a lawn ornament. She appeared in the New Jersey court with her husband and children on April 9th, 2013. The trial began the same day. The link between Fosamax and femur fractures Fosamax and femur fractures continues to strengthen despite this recent verdict, though. In a study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery in March 2013, scientists counted 362 reports of non-healing femoral fractures in the U.S. Food and Drug Agency Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database. The ratio for these fractures and bisphosphonates including Fosamax was 4.51. The investigation revealed that 26% of atypical femoral fractures were non-healing.
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