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 jury came back with a decision on Tuesday to award $9 million in punitive damages to a New Jersey man who blamed Merck and Co. Inc.'s Vioxx painkiller for his heart attack.

Millions of users of the drug in the U.S. paid special attention to the case, as did the media and health professionals. Tuesday's landmark decision could open the floodgates of lawsuits, liability, and precedence for the drug company

A study shows that fish oil supplements containing omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) might help treat neck and back pain.

Joseph Maroon and Jeffrey Bost work in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's neurological surgery department said, "Such supplements might be a safer alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for some patients with spine-related pain

A new study shows that a drug used to treat osteoarthritis in the knee is also effective for easing chronic shoulder pain.

Columbia University Medical Center researchers conducted a six-month study of sodium hyaluronate

A new study shows that patients taking Celebrex are nearly twice as likely to experience a heart attack as people using other drugs to treat arthritis pain.

Researchers at the New Zealand Medical Research Institute analyzed six studies involving 12,780 patients. They found that patients taking Celebrex had a 1.88-fold increase risk of a heart attack compared to those taking other painkillers