A decision by a Saskatchewan court to expand a class-action lawsuit over Vioxx has the drugmaker vowing fresh promises to put up a stiff fight. The pledge comes after the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench ruled the lawsuit can include any Canadian residents outside Quebec who purchased or ingested Vioxx, not just those in Saskatchewan, The Canadian Press reports.

Merck intends to seek “appellate review” of the decision, a company release stated Thursday. “Our legal approach remains the same,” said Maurice Laprairie, a lawyer for Merck says in a statement. “Although we argued against the creation, and later expansion, of a class, the court’s decision still requires that each plaintiff must prove his or her claims on an individual basis because each plaintiff’s case is unique and depends on an individual set of facts.”

At the time the class-action lawsuit was originally certified in February, about 2,500 claimants were represented. That came after the November 2007 settlement in which Merck agreed to pay $4.85 billion to Vioxx users in the US. Earlier this week, the drugmaker won a reversal of a Texas case and also won a partial appeal in a New Jersey case.