Vioxx Recall News
Killer Drug: Company hid deaths from regulator
- Journal of the American Medical Association
04/24/2008- Drug manufacturer Merck knew one of its drugs was killing Alzheimer’s patients – but hid the fact from regulators for several years. The drug, the COX-2 painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib), was finally taken off the market in 2004 after it was found to cause heart attack.
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Merck downplayed death risk of Vioxx: study
Recall of painkiller biggest in history
-Reuters
04/20/2008- A new study suggests that drug maker Merck manipulated data about the drug Vioxx. The drug's 2004 recall was the largest in history. More>>>
Merck: More than 44,000 in line for Vioxx settlement
-Bloomberg
03/05/2008 - Merck & Co. Inc. said yesterday that more than 44,000 plaintiffs who sued the company over its withdrawn Vioxx painkiller had submitted initial information seeking payment for injuries under a $4.85 billion settlement. More>>>
Merck Pays Out Billions For Vioxx
-CBS News
03/05/2008 - A nearly five billion dollar settlement over the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx is on the track to move out to thousands of affected consumers. More>>>
Florida Plaintiffs Want In on Vioxx Settlement
-FDA News
02/08/2008 - Approximately 350 Florida plaintiffs who say they were harmed by Merck’s painkiller Vioxx want to join in a huge settlement that closed Nov. 9, 2007, which the company reached with a much larger group of plaintiffs, claiming state law permits them to file claims until October. But neither the drug company nor the other plaintiffs’ lawyers want the case reopened.More>>>
Merck's Vioxx Tied to New Threat;
Heart Risks Start Early in Study
-WSJ
09/13/2006 - A study identified kidney-related risks for Merck & Co.'s withdrawn Vioxx painkiller, while another study said the drug's cardiovascular risks began soon after treatment, contradicting the company's claim that the risk increased only after long-term use. More >>>
Merck Admits a Data Error on Vioxx
- NY Times
05/31/2006 - In an admission that could undermine one of its core defenses in Vioxx-related lawsuits, Merck said yesterday that it had erred when it reported in early 2005 that a crucial statistical test showed that Vioxx caused heart problems only after 18 months of continuous use.
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Vioxx Heart Risks Began Earlier than Thought
- NPR
May 18, 2006 · New data obtained by NPR show that patients who took Vioxx even for short periods were at higher risk of heart problems and strokes. An estimated 20 million Americans took the painkiller before Merck & Co. stopped selling it in 2004. More >>>
Study: Health Risk Remains a Year After Quitting Vioxx
- NPR
05/14/2006 - New results from a large scientific study show that the risk of heart problems from the painkiller Vioxx are long-lasting: the risk remains up to one year after patients stop taking the drug. More >>>
Vioxx-Linked Heart Attacks May Occur Within 2 Weeks, Study Says
- Bloomberg
Merck & Co.'s Vioxx painkiller may raise the risk of a heart attack within two weeks after patients start taking the drug, earlier than previous studies have shown, according to Canadian researchers. More >>>
Scientists Again Defend Study on Vioxx
NY Times
Alex Bernson
02/23/2006 - With a crucial personal-injury trial over Vioxx set to begin in New Jersey next week, the debate heated up again yesterday about whether Merck understated the drug's risks in a journal article in November 2000. More >>>>
Jurors in Vioxx Case Tell Judge They Are Deadlocked
HEATHER WON TESORIERO
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
12/10/2005 - HOUSTON – Jurors in the federal Vioxx trial against Merck & Co. told the judge that they are unable to reach a unanimous decision. The judge told them to keep deliberating.
More >>>>
Doctor Links Merck Trial to His Demotion
By ALEX BERENSON
The New York Times
12/10/2005 - Less than a week after his videotaped lambasting of Merck was played in a Houston federal courthouse, Dr. Eric Topol, a prominent cardiologist, has lost his title as chief academic officer of the Cleveland Clinic's medical college. More >>>>
Journal Slams Vioxx Study
Questions about 3 heart attacks not included in data analysis could hurt Merck's legal defense
Los Angeles Times - Thomas H. Maugh II and Lisa Girion
12/09/05 - The New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday accused researchers funded by Merck & Co. of understating the health risks of the painkiller Vioxx by withholding adverse data from a 2000 report on the drug. More >>>>
Medical journal says Merck deleted Vioxx dangers
Reuters - Ransdell Pierson
12/09/05 - A prestigious medical journal on Thursday said Merck & Co. withheld information about the dangers of arthritis drug Vioxx in a key study, an alleged lapse that analysts said could hurt Merck as it defends itself against Vioxx-related lawsuits. More >>>>
Report doubts Vioxx study
Journal questions integrity of results cited by Merck
Chicago Tribune - Bruce Japsen
12/09/05 - In an unusual move, The New England Journal of Medicine questioned yesterday the integrity of a key study that Merck & Co. has used to defend its troubled painkiller Vioxx, asking the authors to correct it. More >>>>
Journal Questions Data in Vioxx Study
3 Heart Attacks Not Mentioned
Washington Post - David Brown
12/09/05 - The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday accused the authors of an article on the painkiller Vioxx of underreporting the number of heart attacks that occurred in a study published five years ago. More >>>>
Journal says Vioxx woes suppressed
Merck blamed; correction sought
Boston Globe - Diedtra Henderson
12/09/05 - Merck & Co. withheld information about heart problems suffered by patients taking the company's painkiller Vioxx from the manuscript of a journal article published in 2000, the New England Journal of Medicine said yesterday. More >>>>
Expression of Concern
The New England Journal of Medicine
Thursday, December 8, 2005
We have recently obtained information regarding inaccuracies in data in the report of the VIGOR (Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research) study by Bombardier et al. that raise concern about certain conclusions in the article. More >>>>
Attorney General Abbott Sues Merck For Downplaying Dangers of Vioxx
www.ntxe-news.com -
07/03/05 - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today sued one of the largest drug companies in the nation for misrepresenting the safety of the painkilling prescription drug Vioxx. The company also falsely touted the safety of the drug, knowing it caused a higher risk of heart attack and cardiovascular problems. Despite those potential health hazards, the company still pushed to place Vioxx on the state's Medicaid list for approved medicines. Read More >>>>
Documents Suggest That Merck Tried To Sensor Vioxx Critics - Part 2
06/09/05 - At least 38,000 Americans are believed to have died from taking the pain pill Vioxx before it was withdrawn last year. Drug maker Merck is now facing thousands of lawsuits.
Read More >>>>
Documents Suggest That Merck Tried To Sensor Vioxx Critics - Part 1
06/09/05 - At least 38,000 Americans are believed to have died from taking the pain pill Vioxx before it was withdrawn last year. Drug maker Merck is now facing thousands of lawsuits.
Read More >>>>
Celebrex Now Only COX-2 Drug on Market
04/08/2005 - The Food and Drug Administration forced Pfizer yesterday to stop selling Bextra, citing concerns that the drug can cause a dangerous skin condition and is at least as dangerous to the heart as other painkillers. The FDA also said that it would require Celebrex, another Pfizer painkiller in the same class of drugs, to carry a prominent warning of possible heart risks. That warning could hinder Pfizer's plans to revive Celebrex's flagging sales. Read More >>>>
Medical Panel Poses Pointed Questions to Drug Makers Over Risks of Painkillers
By GARDINER HARRIS
NY Times
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 16 - A panel of federal drug advisers who gathered here on Wednesday to judge the safety of the heavy-selling pain pills Celebrex, Bextra and Vioxx were tough, sometimes even caustic, in their remarks about the drugs, suggesting that the panel may take a hard line on their uses. Read More >>>>
Merck Canceled an Early Study of Vioxx
New York Times - BARRY MEIER
02/08/05 - Merck & Company executives have long insisted that they never pursued a clinical trial to directly study the heart risks of the pain drug Vioxx because other tests they were conducting would supply those answers just as quickly. Read More >>>>
Panel Found Vioxx Risks After 4 Months
Star Ledger - ED SILVERMAN
02/08/05 - Newly disclosed documents indicate a committee overseeing a key Vioxx study found increased risks of various heart problems in patients after just four months, according to a published report. Read More >>>>
COX-2 Inhibitor Increases The Risk Of Heart Attack In Elderly Adults With No History Of Heart Attack
McGill University -
02/08/05 - New research published in the on-line version of the Annals of Internal Medicine today, documents an increased risk of heart attack with one of the COX-2 inhibitors used in elderly adults with no previous history of heart attack; a group previously considered low-risk. Read More >>>>
Vioxx Increases Heart Attack Risk in Elderly
Mon Jan 31, 2005 05:50 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study adds to the evidence that cardiac risk is increased in Vioxx ( rofecoxib ) users, even in those without a history of heart attack. The results also show that at lower doses of Vioxx, concurrent aspirin use can reduce the risk and the risk decreases to normal levels after Vioxx is discontinued. Read More >>>>
New Study Shows More Vioxx Heart Risks
Reuters
Patricia Reany
01-25-05
Vioxx, the painkiller recalled last September because of safety concerns, may have caused up to 140,000 cases of serious heart disease in the United States, researchers said on Tuesday. Read More >>>>
A Widely Used Arthritis Drug (Vioxx) Is Withdrawn
By GINA KOLATA
Published: October 1, 2004
N.Y. Times
The drug company Merck announced yesterday that it would stop selling its arthritis and pain medication Vioxx, currently taken by close to two million people worldwide, because a new study found that it doubled patients' risk of heart attack and strokes. Read More>>>>
Merck estimates $2.5B impact from pulling Vioxx plug
By Julie Appleby and Matt Krantz,
USA TODAY
Vioxx is no more.
With that announcement Thursday, drug giant Merck ended the life of a pain-relief drug that was part of the most successful product launch in history when it hit the market in 1999.
Now the drug may be celebrated for other things: plunging Merck's share price to its lowest since 1996 and possibly opening the way to a flurry of lawsuits. Read More>>>>
Merck Pulls Vioxx From Market After Link To Heart Problems.
By Barbara Martinez, Anna Wilde Matthews, Joann S. Lublin, and Ron Winslow
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Stock Plunges Amid Questions About Drug Giant's Future; Loss of $2.5 Billion in Sales. Arthritis Patients' Quandary.
On the morning of Sept. 24, Raymond Gilmartin, chief executive of Merck & Co., got the call every pharmaceutical executive dreads. Read More>>>>
Study says Merck should have pulled Vioxx in 2000
BERNE (Reuters) — Drug giant Merck should have pulled its Vioxx painkiller from the market four years ago because data showing it raised the risk of heart attacks has existed since 2000, Swiss scientists said Friday. Read More>>>>
E-Mails Suggest Merck Knew Vioxx 's Dangers at Early Stage
As Heart-Risk Evidence Rose,
Officials Played Hardball;
Internal Message: 'Dodge!'
Company Says 'Out of Context'
By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS and BARBARA MARTINEZ
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 1, 2004; Page A1
When Merck & Co. pulled its big-selling painkiller Vioxx off the market in September, Chief Executive Raymond Gilmartin said the company was "really putting patient safety first." He said the study findings prompting the withdrawal, which tied Vioxx to heart-attack and stroke risk, were "unexpected." Read More >>>>
Despite Warnings, Drug Giant Took Long Path to Vioxx Recall
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: November 14, 2004
This article was reported and written by Alex Berenson, Gardiner Harris, Barry Meier and Andrew Pollack.
In May 2000, executives at Merck, the pharmaceutical giant under siege for its handling of the multibillion-dollar drug Vioxx, made a fateful decision. Read More>>>>
If you or a loved one has taken Vioxx and experienced serious Vioxx side effects talk with one of our Vioxx lawyers about a Vioxx lawsuit today. Free, confidential case evaluations nationwide.
