The New York Times Reported today that 44,000 people have signed up for the Vioxx settlement here.  Excerpt below.  For full report click on link.

More than 44,000 people have signed up for a piece of a $4.85 billion settlement over the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, a sign that the deal is on track to go forward, the drug’s maker, Merck & Company, announced Monday.

Of roughly 47,000 people who registered for the settlement this year, more than 44,000 have submitted all or some of the paperwork necessary for enrollment in the deal, Merck said.

People who enrolled by Friday could be eligible to receive an interim payment later this year.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., has said it will withdraw from the agreement unless at least 85 percent of people in different groups of claimants join in the settlement.

Those thresholds would be met — and exceed 93 percent of eligible claims in each of four main categories — if all of the more than 44,000 submissions are verified, the company said.

A lead plaintiffs’ lawyer, Andy Birchfield, said Monday that the enrollment figures were “extremely encouraging.”

Also see the Wall Street Journal Law Blog's coverage of the probable "victory" for this settlement here.