11:00am Monday 4th August 2008
A GRANDFATHER is fighting for compensation from a US drugs company after claiming he nearly died as a result of taking their painkillers.
Malcolm MacMeikan, from Westcliff, was among 300 British users of the painkiller Vioxx who suffered heart attacks or strokes. None of them have seen a penny from drug manufacturer Merck, despite the US company paying out more than £2billion to American users of the drug.
Mr MacMeikan, a 73-year-old father of three, was perscribed Vioxx in June 2002 to ease the symptoms of osteo-arthritis, but suffered a massive heart attack in his Southend office in July 2003.
He said: “It brought my life to an abrupt halt and was a frightening experience.
“It terminated my means of gaining employment and I was financially stuck. I’m retired now, but I had intended to carry on working part time. The heart attack put a complete stop to that.
“I can’t drive long distances. It knocks your confidence as much as anything else.
Mr MacMeikan, who has eight grandchildren and lives in Cranley Road, is deemed ineligible for compensation because he lives outside the US. Merck agreed a £2.5bn settlement for negligence in autumn 2007 with tens of thousands of American users of Vioxx, but non-US citizens were denied compensation claims.
Merck was accused of deliberately withholding information about the potentially fatal side-effects of the drug and misleading doctors about its risks. Merck claimed that Vioxx was thoroughly tested and denied any wrongdoing.
The drug was withdrawn in September 2004 after a US study found that taking it for more than a year and a half could double the risk of heart attacks in some people.
Southend West MP David Amess has taken up Mr MacMeikan’s case and is urging the Government to put pressure on the US authorities to change the law.
Mr MacMeikan, who was a consultant for his son’s engineering company on Purdeys Industrial Estate, said in the month running up to his heart attack, his doctor doubled the dose of Vioxx. A week before, he suffered a massive panic attack while doing business on the Isle of Dogs which left him unable to drive home.
A London law firm, Leigh and Day, has tried to pursue his and other British victims’ cases in America. But a US court ruled they were unable to accept claimants from outside the USA.
He said: “Merck knew Vioxx caused heart attacks and strokes, but continued to issue it.
“At the moment it’s all in limbo and nothing seems to be happening.
“I just hope someone will bring pressure on the US Government to do something.”
Southend West MP David Amess said a number of people in Southend had contacted him recently on the issue and were fighting for compensation.
He said between 10 and 20 people had either suffered ill effects themselves from taking Vioxx or were related to people who had.
He said: “I don’t think there’s any dispute about the effects of the drug.
“It can’t be right people can be compensated in America, but not in the UK.”
Mr Amess is a member of a cross-party action group which has been set up in Parliament to lobby for compensation from Merck.
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