Vioxx problems

[Guest guest]

Increased evidence that Merck lied and misled to maintain sales and profits.

I'm sure the good folks at Pfizer would never do

that! Just because they murdered millions in

Africa by charging $12 a day for $0.70 a day

fluconazole....and conducted channel stuffing

operations, got doctors to make more off-label

prescriptions illegally, conducted hostile

takeovers of other pharmas to abscond profits

from leading drugs, failed to do much of any

R & D...oh, gosh! Heck, I'm just skeptical, not

cynical, cause that sounds so much nicer.

M.

**

Kennedy, MarketWatch

Last Update: 4:19 PM ET Sep 12, 2006

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Merck's recalled pain reliever Vioxx carries

an increased risk of kidney and heart arrhythmia problems, and can be

harmful even when taken for a short period of time, according to two

new analyses to be published in the Journal of the American Medical

Association.

A first study, conducted by researchers at the University of Newcastle

in Australia, showed that Vioxx could raise the risks of

cardiovascular problems, particularly heart attack, within one month

of use.

Merck & Co. has maintained that Vioxx can cause cardiovascular

problems after only 18 months or more of use. The company pulled Vioxx

from the market in September 2004 over such safety concerns. It

currently faces over 14,000 lawsuits filed by former Vioxx users who

claim they were injured by the drug.

Although the Food and Drug Administration has said that Vioxx, also

known as rofecoxib, can return to the market with restrictions, Merck

has yet to do so.

" The data do not point to a safe dose level with rofecoxib, which

justifies the decision taken to withdraw the drug from sale, " wrote

the Australian researchers.

A second analysis said of old Vioxx data showed that the drug

increased the risk of suffering renal problems and heart arrhythmia.

That analysis was conducted by researchers at Harvard School of Public

Health, Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical

School.

The researchers added that the risks were seen only with use of Vioxx,

and not with similar products such as Pfizer's Celebrex. They also

noted that if a meta-analysis had been conducted sooner on the data,

the safety issues probably would have been detected. " Another key

finding in this meta-analysis is that the adverse renal

effects of rofecoxib (Vioxx) were apparent in the body of studies

dating back to 2000, if careful safety monitoring of the data had been

carried out, " the researchers said in a statement.

" However, the adverse effects of rofecoxib were not known to

physicians or the public because aggregation of cumulative safety data

is not required and normally carried out, and the current passive

monitoring system, such as FDA's MedWatch program, relies on voluntary

spontaneous reporting of adverse drug events by general physicians and

consumers, " the researchers added.

Both analyses will appear in the Oct. 4 edition of the Journal of the

American Medical Association.

Val Brickates Kennedy is a reporter for MarketWatch in Boston.

Copyright © 2006 MarketWatch, Inc.