might want to stop taking Vioxx - Triathlon Week

09-30-2004, 07:38 AM

If any of you take Vioxx as an anti-inflammatory and/or pain reliever (as
many athletes do), Merck is pulling the drug. Here's the story:

Merck Withdraws Arthritis Drug Vioxx

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer

TRENTON, N.J. - Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. is pulling its blockbuster
arthritis drug Vioxx from the market worldwide because new data from a
clinical trial found an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Whitehouse Station-based Merck said Thursday that data from the trial
showed the increased risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular
complications began 18 months after patients started taking Vioxx.

The data comes from a three-year study aimed at showing that Vioxx at a 25
milligram dose prevents recurrence of polyps in the colon and rectum. The
trial was stopped after Merck discovered the higher heart risk compared to
patients taking dummy pills.

"It's a disaster for Merck, coming at the worst time," said independent
health care analyst Hemant Shah of HKS & Co. in Warren, N.J.

Vioxx is one of Merck's most important drugs, with $2.5 billion in sales in
2003. But sales dipped 18 percent in the second quarter of this year to $653
million, partly due to increasing concerns about the drug's safety.

"We're taking this action because we believe it best serves the interest of
patients," Ray V. Gilmartin, Merck's chairman, president and chief executive
officer, said in a prepared statement.

-Kevin