The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office has reached a settlement with Merck in a lawsuit over the painkiller Vioxx.

The state is getting more than $8 million for the PACE prescription program, which helps low-income seniors.

The suit says the state would not have bought the quantities of Vioxx that it did if the company had revealed earlier that it increased the user’s risk of heart attack and stroke.

The company took the drug off the market in 2004.