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EXPERT SAYS VIOXX CAN DOUBLE HEART ATTACK RISK
EXPERT SAYS VIOXX CAN DOUBLE HEART ATTACK RISK -- Posted by Dr. Jai Maharaj on 09-22-05 23:07
Medical statistics expert: Vioxx can double heart attack risk
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Atlantic City, New Jersey -- Even short-term use of the
painkiller Vioxx can double the risk of heart attack, a
medical statistics expert testified Thursday in a product
liability trial, a finding that manufacturer Merck & Co.
misrepresented.
Testifying on behalf of a postal worker suing Merck,
University of Washington biostatistician Richard Kronmal
said patients who took the now-withdrawn painkiller in
company-sponsored tests suffered serious side effects to
blood vessels almost immediately.
"It clearly is a drug that has severe effects on the
vascular system," Kronmal said.
But he acknowledged on cross-examination that neither
outside scientists who reviewed safety data on the drug
nor the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shared his
view, and that he had never seen the medical records of
Frederick "Mike" Humeston.
Humeston, 60, of Boise, Idaho, is suing Merck, claiming
his Sept. 18, 2001 heart attack was caused by Vioxx. His
lawyers have told jurors Merck knew of the drug's risks
and failed to warn consumers.
Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, contends Humeston's
heart attack was because of health problems and that, as
a Vioxx user for only two months, he wouldn't have been
among those at risk. Merck has said Vioxx only increased
cardiac risks after 18 months of use and that it properly
disclosed those risks.
The drug, pulled off the market by Merck a year ago, had
been a blockbuster, with an estimated 20 million people
using it. Many were arthritis sufferers dissatisfied with
other prescription pain relievers because they caused
stomach pain or bleeding.
In June 2000, Merck released results of a study that
found Vioxx users suffered five times as many heart
attacks as users of naproxen, an older painkiller. Merck
said that was because naproxen protected the heart, not
because Vioxx was dangerous.
The Food and Drug Administration rebuked Merck for making
that assertion without proof, and Humeston's lawyers have
hammered at that point.
Kronmal's testimony came as the trial - which is being
closely watched because of a $253 million (euro207
million) liability verdict against Merck last month in
Texas - entered its second week.
Merck has yet to begin presenting its side of the case to
the seven-woman three-man jury.
Merck faces more than 5,000 lawsuits over Vioxx, nearly
half of which have been filed in New Jersey. All 2,475
New Jersey cases have been consolidated under Higbee.
Merck plans to appeal the Texas verdict, which will be
reduced to about $26 million (euro21.27 million) because
of Texas law capping punitive damages.
The company's shares fell 20 cents to close at $27.60 in
trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares are down
more than $1.50 since the trial started.
- - -
On the Net: http://www.merck.com
More at:
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/bus?guid=20050922/43322c40_3421_1334520050922-1204755242
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"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
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"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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