The first Fosamax femur fracture trial ended with a win for Merck & Co. in April 2013. However, thousands of similar cases remain to be tried in courts throughout the country, and hopes are high that future trials will turn out better for plaintiffs.

Fosamax is a bisphosphonate drug that has been taken by millions of post-menopausal women to prevent fractures from osteoporosis. In October 2010, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Fosamax femur fracture advisory after studies indicated that people taking the drugs for osteoporosis are at risk of suffering atypical femur fractures. Among other things, the agency advised doctors to consider periodic reevaluation of the need for continued treatment in patients taking the medications for longer than five years.

The Fosamax trial that recently ended was one of about 850 similar claims pending in a multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey. (In re: Fosamax (Alendronate Sodium) Products Liability Litigation (No. II) - MDL No. 2243). More than 2,000 Fosamax lawsuits involving femur fracture allegations have also been filed in a consolidated litigation underway in New Jersey's Atlantic County Superior Court. (In re: Fosamax Litigation, No. 282, N.J. Super. Ct) Plaintiffs in these cases claim Fosamax interferes with the normal bone-healing process in such a way that microfractures are not repaired.

During the trial, the Plaintiff's Fosamax attorneys presented evidence that indicated Merck knew years before the drug's 1995 approval that it could cause debilitating femur fractures in some users. According to a report from Bloomberg.com, she had claimed Fosamax weakened her femur over a seven-year period, causing the thigh bone to snap in April 2009, when she bent over in her garage to pick up a frog-shaped lawn ornament while gardening. After deliberating for about an hour and a half, jurors were not convinced that the fracture she suffered was the atypical type that has been linked to the drug. The Plaintiff plans to appeal.

With so many Fosamax femur fracture lawsuits still awaiting trial, Fosamax attorneys say they are optimistic that this verdict will prove to be an outlier based on the specific facts of the case, and that future Fosamax femur fracture trials will yield victories for plaintiffs.