Big Pharma Merck and Co. are being sued over their shingles vaccine Zostavax. The vaccine pulled in $749 million in sales last year for Merck. Several patients filed lawsuits claiming that Merck’s shingles vaccine caused serious injury and death. Attorneys have said that many more cases are on the way. Vaxxter reports: The plaintiffs have sued in Pennslyvania federal courts. “I think Merck has failed terribly … to warn about the very serious side effects and the failure of the vaccine to do what they claim it does,” attorney Marc Bern told FiercePharma. Bern, founding partner at Marc J. Bern & Partners, said his firm has “thousands of complaints” yet to be filed in Philadelphia, with the injuries running “the gamut from contracting shingles as a result of the vaccine all the way to serious personal injuries such as blindness in one eye, individuals who have serious paralysis in their extremities, brain damage, all the way to death.” In a statement, Merck said it “stands behind the demonstrated safety and efficacy” of the shot, which is licensed in 50 countries.