On Friday of last week, attorney Jim Pettit showed jurors a series of Merck documents indicating the company set up teams to "neutralize" nearly forty prominent doctors who publicly voiced concerns about risks of using Vioxx or who preferred prescribing competing painkillers.
Later in the day, documents stated many of the doctors had been "neutralized" by methods such as Merck indirectly paying them for serving on advisory boards, giving favorable speeches or participating in Merck research studies.
More later.
