It makes sense, after losing a big case like the one in Texas. But it doesn't sound like many cases will fall into that category.
If I was one of the attorneys suing Merck, I would be very excited about this. It would imply that the company actively omitted data in a public forum, trying to make their product look better.
The early cases are important in determining the value per claimant. If they're only allowed to defend hard cases in the beginning, that makes it more difficult for them to produce a low settlement.
I think they're relatively cheap. What we saw was a big run-up toward April, and now we're seeing a little more profit-taking.
Merck right now is going to fight cases. But obviously, if there's thousands and thousands of cases, they'll end up not being able to fight all of them. They will have to settle some of them.
I would expect costs to rise as the year goes on. They shifted some savings into this quarter.
Other companies facing top line pressures are going to have to cut costs.
