MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that more than one pharmaceutical company can be tried at the same time in the state's lawsuit accusing drug companies of overcharging the state's Medicaid program.

Renewed criticism of Merck & Co's handling of its withdrawn pain drug Vioxx may further tarnish the drugmaker's image but is not about to scuttle its multibillion-dollar deal to settle thousands of personal injury lawsuits brought by former Vioxx users.

Jere Beasley was nearly broke and looking for work after getting whipped in a race for governor 30 years ago. Since then, the rural Alabama lawyer has reemerged as a powerhouse plaintiffs' attorney whose firm counts more than $20 billion in verdicts and settlements.

Employees and friends of Beasley Allen will help lead the charge against cystic fibrosis on May 18 by participating in "Great Strides: Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis," the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's largest national fund-raising event.

A Little Rock, Ark., federal jury found Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Upjohn (a Pfizer unit) liable for $27 million in punitive damages to Donna Scroggin, who sued the drug manufacturers in 2004 after developing breast cancer after taking hormone-replacement therapy. The award includes $19.3 million from Wyeth and $7.7 from Upjohn.

More than 44,000 people have signed up for shares of a $4.85 billion settlement over the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, a sign that the deal is on track to go forward, Merck & Co. announced Monday. Of roughly 47,000 people who registered for the settlement earlier this year, more than 44,000 have submitted all or some of the paperwork necessary for enrollment in the deal, Merck said in a news release.

A New York City jury awarded $2.25 million in the case of 73 year old Leonard Shafer who had exposure to asbestos in his workplace as a civilian employee at the New York Naval Shipyard (Brooklyn Navy Yard) in the 1950's. Attorneys for the family of Mr. Shafer helped prove Shafer developed pleural mesothelioma, which is an aggressive, incurable cancer during his career at the Shipyard.

A state court jury awarded Alabama $215 million in its Medicaid drug-price fraud suit against an AstraZeneca PLC unit.

A jury on Friday determined that Monsanto Co. polluted an Alabama town with PCBs, a verdict that sets the stage for more trials on claims that the contamination harmed the

AstraZeneca PLC must pay Alabama $215 million after a state court ruled the company inflated prices for drugs it sold to the state's Medicaid system.