BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Dec. 15 (AP) — A state jury ruled Friday in favor of the drug manufacturer Merck & Company in a product liability lawsuit, rejecting the claims of an Alabama man who blamed the painkiller Vioxx for a heart attack in 2001.

The jury of eight women and four men returned the verdict in less than two hours in the second favorable verdict for Merck in three days.

The suit was filed by Gary Albright, 57, of Chelsea, who claimed that Vioxx caused his heart attack and that the company had failed to reveal potential dangers of the drug before pulling it from the market in 2004. He was seeking as much as $5.75 million.

In the earlier case, a federal jury in New Orleans ruled for Merck on Wednesday.

“Juries continue to determine that Merck acted responsibly in its research of Vioxx and provided the appropriate information about Vioxx to patients and the medical community,” a Merck executive vice president and general counsel, Kenneth C. Frazier, said in a statement.

A lawyer for Mr. Albright, Stephen Heninger, said an appeal was possible. “We’re disappointed, but it’s tough when you go against a Goliath,” he said.

Jurors speaking with lawyers and reporters in the courtroom after the verdict said Mr. Albright had too many health problems before his heart attack to blame Vioxx. None of the jurors would give their names.

Merck denied that Vioxx had anything to do with the heart attack Mr. Albright suffered in March 2001. It also denied withholding information about potential side effects of the medication, which Mr. Albright took for arthritis.

A Merck lawyer, Mike Brock, said Mr. Albright had only a “small heart attack” that did not cause lasting damage to his lifestyle. Mr. Albright was at high risk for heart problems because he had diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and was overweight, he said.

Merck removed Vioxx from the market in 2004 after its research showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Merck has said it faces about 27,200 suits over Vioxx plus another 265 potential class-action suits. Another 14,000 plaintiffs have entered agreements with Merck suspending the time limit for lawsuits.

Merck, which is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., has won four federal cases over Vioxx and lost one.