http://www.cuminggillespie.com

The following is a status update from the regarding the Vioxx class proceedings in Ontario. The Alberta Vioxx class proceeding will be moving forward through the Ontario National Class Action.

On October 22, 2009, the Supreme Court dismissed three leave applications relating to the Ontario class action (Mignacca v. Merck). The result of the Supreme Court’s decisions is that the Ontario action is currently the only certified Vioxx class action in Canada outside of Quebec. That being said, the defendants (”Merck”) continue to challenge certification in Ontario .

In May 2008, the Saskatchewan court certified a Saskatchewan action as a national opt-out class action. However, on March 30, 2009, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal set aside the certification order and refused to grant leave to amend the pleadings. Mr. Merchant – counsel for the proposed Saskatchewan  sought leave to the Supreme Court and was refused by its October 22, 2009 decision. This effectively ends the stand-alone Saskatchewan class action.

Status of the Ontario Class Action

On July 28, 2008, Justice Cullity certified this Ontario action as a national class action relating to Vioxx excluding Quebec. However, Merck continues to challenge certification.

The litigation battle continues in Ontario, and we will keep our clients apprised as the matter continues.

CUMING & GILLESPIE

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Craig Gillespie authored and presented a called Examinations for Discovery at the LESA Civil Litigation Book Camp in February of this year in Edmonton and Calgary.

We are pleased to announce that Jamie Cuming has been recommended again as leading lawyer in The Canadian Legal LEXPERT® Directory 2009 (13th Edition), published by Thomson Carswell. The LEXPERT® Directory is a leading, peer-review-based directory of legal practitioners in Canada. Recommendations for lawyers in the annual LEXPERT® Directory are based on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey, with firm rankings tabulated from the cumulative rankings of individuals within each practice area reviewed.

McLENNAN ROSS LLP / CUMING & GILLESPIE LAWYERS

We are pleased to report that on June 23, 2009, Judge Miller of the United States District Court of Southern California granted our Motion to Intervene in the Interpleader Application in San Diego.  Jude Miller ordered that only directly traceable claims are to be recognized, that the aggregators with directly traceable claims will not be recognized and must await the outcome of the Canadian action and that the funds remaining after the directly traceable claims and administrative expenses are paid will be paid into court in our action.

This successful application is the result of several years work, and we are pleased with the outcome.

On another note, on or about June 12, 2009, the Notice of Class Action was sent to the last known address for any investors we had record of, other than those investors who have already signed a Contingency Fee Agreement with us.  These investors will have 60 days to Opt Into (for Non-Alberta residents), or Opt-Out of (for Alberta Residents) the Class Action.

We are also in the process of exchanging document productions with Defendants, and scheduling Examinations for Discoveries of those parties on their documents throughout the coming summer and fall.

We will continue to update you with any news if there is anything to update you with.  But please remember that we ask that you not call or e-mail for updates.  It is very time consuming and expensive for us to deal with clients seeking individual updates, so please understand that if you do not receive an update for several months, this means that there is nothing newsworthy to share with you.

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours truly,

Lynn Dechaine (for Graham McLennan)

Paralegal - Litigation
McLennan Ross LLP
Toll Free: 1-800-567-9200
Direct Line: (780) 482-9281
Fax: (780) 482-9100