First Fosamax Trial Begins Tomorrow

The first "bellwether" trial in the Fosamax litigation begins tomorrow. Merck & Co. currently faces more than 900 lawsuits that claim its osteoporosis drug Fosamax causes jawbone-tissue death. The trial is presided over by U.S. District Judge John Keenan in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

"In mass litigation, all eyes are on the first trial, not only because it shows the strategy of each side, but also because it's the first information about how jurors respond to the evidence," said Howard Erichson, a law professor at Fordham University in New York, on Bloomberg.com. The verdict reached in the first "bellwether" trial often guides future out-of-court settlements. Accordingly, all plaintiffs and attorneys involved in the Fosamax litigation will be watching this cases closely in the coming days and weeks to determine the potential value of their lawsuits.