A federal judge refused to grant the agency’s request to delay turning over Vioxx documents that were requested by a lawyer who reps about 300 people in lawsuits in which they claim they were harmed by Merck’s withdrawn painkiller.

In a ruling, US District Court Judge Faith Hochberg decided to appoint a mediator to create a process for deciding which documents can be turned over to Eric Weinberg. Last April, he filed a lawsuit against the FDA after the agency failed to provide documents or offered incomplete files in response to 10 Freedom of Information requests he made between October 2004 and August 2006. Weinberg, who accused the FDA of unreasonable delays, is seeking Vioxx media ads, the personal calender and other info from former FDA chief counsel Dan Troy, and communications between the agency and Merck. (Here is the order).

“This means the FDA may have to produce documents (that could reveal information) about Merck’s relationships with the FDA,” Weinberg tells Pharmalot this morning. Among the info he is seeking are documents to verify that Peter Honig, a former director of the FDA’s Office of Drug Safety, who joined Merck in February 2002 as vp of risk management, sequestered himself from decisions regarding Vioxx label warnings while he was talking to Merck about the job. The FDA sought a warning label but Merck fought that effort and it took two years before a warning was added.