LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Merck: Merck Vioxx
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In June 2005, U.S. National Public Radio's Snigdha Prakash reported, "New documents obtained by NPR suggest that even as Merck was making Vioxx into a bestseller, the company was putting pressure on independent doctors. The company's apparent aim: to keep them from discussing evidence of Vioxx's potential safety problems. The documents show that Merck exerted pressure not only on individual doctors, but ... on several of the nation's top medical schools." [14]
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The company faces more than 6,500 similar lawsuits, which Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., said it plans to fight one by one. Thursday’s verdict means it might take several more cases before lawyers can find any sort of precedent that might determine Merck’s ultimate Vioxx liability. In the meantime, each case — including a federal trial scheduled to begin in Houston Nov. 28 — will continue to draw the attention of pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers and stock analysts.
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Merck's marketing of Vioxx was unusually aggressive. In January 2001, O'Dwyers PR Daily reported that Merck had paid Bruce Jenner and the former Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill for media interviews they gave discussing Vioxx. [4] A November 2001 study by the National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation found that Merck spent $160 million to advertise Vioxx in 2000 alone - more than Anheuser-Busch spent that year promoting Budweiser beer. [5]
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Merck announced the job cuts as the company faces at least 6,500 lawsuits related to Vioxx, the arthritis painkiller the company pulled off the market in 2004 because of a study showing increased heart attacks in patients. Jury selection begins in the third Vioxx trial on Tuesday.
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Thereafter, studies by Merck and by others found an increased risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx use when compared with naproxen. There was no indication of this risk in the original placebo-controlled safety trials, and it was possible that the effect was more related to naproxen decreasing the risk of heart attacks than one of Vioxx increasing the risk. Nonetheless, in 2002 Merck adjusted the labeling of Vioxx to reflect possible cardiovascular risks.
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Editor note: On 09/30/2004, Merck the maker of Vioxx, issued a worldwide recall, halting sales of the drug. On 04/07/2005, Following scrutiny of the class of arthritis drugs known as NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors, the FDA announced planned regulatory actions. See: Questions & Answers: FDA Actions On COX-2 Inhibitors & NSAIDs Fallout from the Vioxx recall will continue for years to come.
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