Merck Caught Misrepresenting Vioxx Risks Again

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Evelyn Pringle (about the author) Page 1 of 9 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

For OpEdNews: Evelyn Pringle - Writer

Although Merck has long maintained that the risks associated with Vioxx occur after long-term use, a recent study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says the drug may raise the risk of heart attack for patients taking Vioxx for less than 2 weeks.

The study published online this month, found that more than 25% of 239 patients who had heart attacks did so in less than 13 days of being on the drug.

The study followed patients for about two and a half years and included 30,200 Vioxx users and 45,000 Celebrex patients. It found no statistically significant increase in heart attack risk with Celebrex patients.

In addition, on May 12, 2006, Dr Steven Nissen, interim chairman of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said Merck recently misrepresented an analysis of data from a follow-up review of patients who participated in the 3-year study called, Approve, that led to Vioxx being pulled off the market on September 30, 2004.

"It's important that we inform people about this because patients who have taken the drug will need increased surveillance by their physicians and increased awareness of their risks in the year subsequent to stopping the drug. And that risk may extend beyond a year; we simply don't know," Nissen told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"In the one year after Vioxx was stopped there was a 75 percent greater risk of having an adverse event," he said.

"What this means is that, surprisingly, in the year following discontinuation of Vioxx the relative risk remains approximately as high as it was when people were actually taking the drug," Dr Nissen explained. "That is very clear from the data," he said.

Critics say the cozy relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA is evidenced by the large number of industry connected members on the agency's advisory panels. A study conducted by the Public Citizen's Health Research Group in the April 26, 2006 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association analyzed the transcripts of 221 FDA drug advisory panel meetings that involved 16 committees, listed on the agency's web site as taking place between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2004.

The analysis revealed that in 73% of the meetings, at least one member of the panel or one voting consultant disclosed a conflict, and yet only 1% of the members recused themselves from participating.

In all, 28% of committee members and voting consultants disclosed a conflict, the most common involving substantial financial dealings from consulting agreements, contracts or grants, and investments. For instance, the study found that 19% of the consulting agreements were worth over $10,000, 30% of the investments involved over $25,000, and 23% of contracts or grants exceeded $100,000.

In the case of Vioxx, ten of the 32 members on the FDA advisory committee that voted to allow the continued sale of Cox-2 pain drugs, including Vioxx, had previously acted as paid consultants for the drugs' manufacturers.

And true to form, the members with industry ties voted to return Vioxx to the market. Dr Marcia Angell, a senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School and author of ''The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It," said in a March 10, 2005 editorial in the Boston Globe: "It is hard to see how the panel could have concluded that the benefits were worth those risks, especially given the fact that taking over-the-counter Prilosec in addition to an older pain reliever would probably have provided as much protection from stomach ulcers."

Dr Angell says advisory committees should not include paid consultants for drug companies. "Their conflict of interest is real, not ''potential," she wrote.

"The excuse that they are indispensable," she says, "is not only self-serving but insulting to the experts who don't consult for industry."

However, in what critics call a rare occurrence, and no doubt because the agency was under intense public scrutiny, in this instance the FDA did not follow the recommendation of its advisory panel and Vioxx was not approved for a return to the market.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for OpEd News and investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

Contact Author

Contact Editor

View Authors' Articles

Book Recommendations for "Corporate Accountability"

Corporate Integrity and Accountability

$53.95
Lowest New Price $47.54
Number of pages: 296
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc

The New Corporate Accountability: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law

$142.00
Lowest New Price $71.00
Number of pages: 350
Publisher: Cambridge University Press