September 30, 2004 – Faced with the increased risk of cardiovascular disorders presented by the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx, the pharmaceutical company Merck announced that it was voluntarily withdrawing from the market its product marketed in 80 countries.
Vioxx is a prescription medicine used to relieve pain caused by arthritis and osteoarthritis.
It was in a clinical trial that it was conducting to demonstrate the effectiveness of Vioxx against colon cancer that Merck found an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in participants. . The clinical trial had been running for three years and aimed to analyze the preventive effect of the anti-inflammatory on the reappearance of polyps in the colon, a type of potentially cancerous tumor. However, 18 months after the start of treatment, it was found that the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke increased in those taking Vioxx, compared to participants in the control group taking a placebo.
The move comes a month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported similar findings from a study of 1.4 million people with arthritis. These data showed that those taking the normal dose of Vioxx were twice as likely to have a heart attack as those taking a competing drug, Celebrex. This risk was tripled in those using the maximum dose of Vioxx.
Some sources indicate that when the drug was marketed in 1999, scientists had already warned the multinational of the risks that Vioxx presented, on the basis of clinical trials conducted by Merck itself.
Its leaders have also advised consumers of Vioxx to contact their doctor to be prescribed another anti-inflammatory to soothe their pain.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
According to the Associated Press and CBS
