Vioxx study says heart risk begins early
From Times Wire Services
The increased heart risk from Vioxx, Merck & Co.’s withdrawn arthritis medicine, begins much earlier than after 18 months of use, according to a study contradicting assertions by the drug maker and its scientists.
The 2,434-patient study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was halted early when the medicine was pulled from the market in September 2004.
Although the median duration of treatment was only 7.4 months, the researchers concluded that Vioxx, known generically as rofecoxib, was still associated with an increased frequency of adverse cardiovascular events such as fatal and nonfatal heart attacks, strokes, sudden death from cardiac causes, blood clots and chest pain, the study said.
