Drugs firm MSD in Haarlem and parent company Merck are being taken to court by a group of Dutch patients who claim their heart attacks and strokes have been caused by the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx.

The group is made up of 15 heart patients and the family of one man who has died, Trouw reports on Wednesday.
Vioxx was taken off the market in the US in 2004 because of concerns about its safety.
In the Netherlands, Vioxx, designed for people with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, was widely prescribed for complaints for which it had not been approved, such as general pain relief and sport injuries.
Last year Merck reached a €5bn out of court settlement with 27,000 former users in the US but foreign claims were excluded from the deal, Trouw reports.