Merck Knew of Dangerous Vioxx Heart Risks

Boston (DbTechNo) - It appears that heart risks associated with Vioxx were known about up to 3 years before Merck pulled their drug from the market.

The painkiller was pulled from the market back in 2004, after it became apparent that the drug had severe heart attack risk in patients who received it.

This news comes from researchers of a study who published it in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

For their study the researchers analyzed results of up to 30 studies that Merck conducted between 1996 and 2004, comparing Vioxx with placebos.

Merck have since settled a class action lawsuit brought upon them by thousands of people effected in one way or another by Vioxx, to the tune of 4.85 billion.

If the company had made health data public back in 2000, the researchers say that many lives that were lost, would have been saved.

“You could have known there were marked safety problems with Vioxx as early as 2000 and the signal only grew stronger,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale University School of Medicine.

“Most of the information we are using in this study was never published, or if it was published, they never included the key safety data,” he said.