Settlement amount: $950 million
Year of settlement: 2011
Drug involved: The painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib)
Criminal charges filed? Yes
Merck’s Vioxx was pulled from the market in 2004 when studies showing that it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke were made public. Last year, the company settled charges involving false claims about the drug’s safety and the illegal marketing of Vioxx for conditions for which it had not been properly tested, such as rheumatoid arthritis. The drug is estimated to have contributed to between 88,000 and 140,000 heart attacks, about half of them fatal. The $950 settlement does not include the hundreds of millions the company paid out to harmed patients and their families.