Vioxx Effects Still Linger For Merck

Merck & Co. is still trying to put its Vioxx problems behind it.

A week before the Supreme Court hears from angry shareholders, a new study says the company had strong evidence of the risks of Vioxx years before the drug was pulled.

In a study published today, researchers found that the heart risks associated with Vioxx, linked to tens of thousands of deaths, could have been identified almost four years before Merck pulled the drug from the market in 2004.

Joseph Ross of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a group of several researchers, all consultants paid by plaintiffs' lawyers suing Merck, studied 30 Vioxx trials the drug maker conducted at the beginning of the decade. The researchers obtained the trial information after it was made available through litigation brought against Merck. The researchers' findings were published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Ross and his team found that after 21 of the 30 studies were completed by December 2000, there was concern patients taking Vioxx were at greater risk for death caused by heart conditions. As of June 2001, data showed there was a 35 percent increase in risk of heart attack or death in patients taking Vioxx.

Merck says the researchers used "unreliable methods and reached incorrect conclusions."

Next week, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear from shareholders who want to sue Merck for not disclosing the risks associated with Vioxx. The drug maker has agreed to pay out almost $5 billion in settlements in patient cases.