NEWARK, N.J. - Drugmaker Merck & Co. is not liable for the medical monitoring of Vioxx users not claiming injury, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The 5-1 ruling by the state's highest court means a class-action lawsuit by people who used the once-popular painkiller will be dismissed. One justice did not participate.

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One Vioxx-related verdict against drug maker Merck & Co. was reversed Thursday by an appeals court in Texas, while a Vioxx-related reward was reduced by a New Jersey appeals court.

In Texas, an appeals court scrapped a $26 million verdict awarded to the widow of Robert Ernst, who started taking the painkiller Vioxx eight months before he died in May 2001. The appeals court said there's no evidence that Ernst suffered a fatal heart problems from a blood clot caused by Vioxx, the Associated Press reported.

(AP) A Texas appeals court has scrapped a $26 million verdict against the drugmaker Merck stemming from the first trial involving its once popular painkiller Vioxx.

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