Merck Pulls Arthritis Drug from Market
 (NY, Reuters Health, 9/30/04)

After defending the safety of Vioxx for years, Merck & Co Inc has now withdrawn this arthritis drug from the market after a three-year study of 2,600 patients, that was originally meant to test whether Vioxx could prevent colon polyp recurrence; unexpectedly indicated that the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. This revelation opens Merck up to billions of dollars in lawsuits, in addition to the large reduction of income they will sustain from loss of sales of this, their fourth most popular drug. These findings also raise the possibility that all COX-2 inhibitors may have a detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system. In response, the FDA says that they will be watching long-term data for all drugs of this type.