A New Jersey man was awarded $13.5 million from Vioxx maker Merck and Co., including $9 million in punitive damages on Tuesday after a jury found that the company knowingly withheld data about the pain drug's risks from federal regulators.

The state court jury had given John McDarby, 77, of Park Ridge, and his wife, Irma, $4.5 million last Wednesday, saying Merck's conduct showed a ''wanton and willful disregard of another's rights.''

A week ago, the same panel found that Merck failed to warn of the medicine's risks and committed consumer fraud in misrepresenting them to prescribing physicians.

Merck, which pulled the blockbuster drug off the market in 2004 after a study linked it to increased risk of heart attack and stroke, said it would appeal Tuesday's verdict.