Merck’s comeuppance continues
Reporting on others’ woes and misery never gives me pleasure. But reporting on the continuing woes of a pharmaceutical company ALWAYS warms my heart. That pleasure is tempered only by the fact that more often than not, it takes the pain of real people to put drug makers to any sort of pain themselves.
And such is the bittersweet case today. On the one hand, I’m loathe to report that yet again, some unwitting subjects in a drug trial have been given a hard time of it by yet another Merck medication
On the other hand, though, I have the almost gleeful privilege of reporting to you that beleaguered Pharma giant Merck – the very folks that brought us Vioxx, the arthritis drug that killed or maimed as many as 140,000 Americans – is in hot water again. This time, it’s over the drug that’s supposed to be taking Vioxx’s place in Merck’s stable of poisons, I mean, medications.
The problem is that this drug ALSO poses a deadly danger to people’s tickers.
The drug, called Arcoxia, was the subject of a safety study involving nearly 35,000 subjects. The findings of that research were that this medication poses as much cardiovascular risk – if not more – than a decades-old NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) called diclofenac. The heart travails associated with diclofenac are well known and documented.
That’s right – Merck’s supposed REPLACEMENT for a killer drug they loosed upon the world is seemingly cut from the same cloth! The study’s data revealed that not only does Arcoxia carry similar levels of heart attack risk as its older cousin, it also creates more edema (fluid retention), higher blood pressure, and a higher incident of heart failure
Currently, Merck faces more than 23,000 lawsuits for Vioxx’s heart-related liabilities. The drug was pulled off pharmacy shelves in September of 2004. But only after being on the market and killing innocent Americans for more than 5 years after the FDA approved it as “safe” for public consumption.
Vioxx’s would-be replacement is approved for use in 62 countries worldwide, and it earned Merck over $210 million last year alone. Based on the study’s findings, the FDA has requested more information from about Arcoxia from its maker before granting approval for it here in the U.S.
