Over 100 000 people died from using this painkiller.1

Released on the market in 1999 by Merck, American pharmaceutical company, this non-steroidal anti-inflammatory was used to relieve the symptoms of arthritis treatment. This drug was hoped to be a blockbuster but had to be banned in September 2004, for its severe side effects.

Tested on more than 8 different animal species, Vioxx was proved to be sure and favorable on cardiovascular diseases prevention. Sadly, the opposite occurred on humans, inducing heart attacks, cerebrovascular accidents and poor heart condition.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, there would have been, in the USA, between 88 000 and 139 000 cases which 30 or 40 % were probably lethal. These estimations don’t take in consideration people from other countries nor those that weren’t diagnosed as such. Some evaluations give a global number of 320 000 people to have suffered cardiovascular difficulties from the Vioxx, of which 140 000 died.

Risks were rapidly identified but the drug stayed on the market for another 5 years.

• “Even before Merck (the laboratory that made Vioxx) voluntarily withdrew the drug from the market, there were reports that patients taking Vioxx had higher rates of cardiovascular events than patients taking the COX-1 drug naproxen (Naprosyn). But other studies comparing Vioxx to placebo did not show a clear risk. Then, last month, an observational study showed that patients on doses of Vioxx higher than 25 milligrams per day were especially at risk for heart attack.”2
• “Observational studies can hint at a possible "cause and effect," but randomized, controlled trials are the gold standard in medical research.”3
• “Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., withdrew the drug on Sept. 30, 2004, because it doubled the risks of heart attack, stroke and death.”4
• “A leading drug company has been accused of misrepresenting data on the safety of a bestselling drug and persuading academics to lend their names to studies that were ghostwritten for them.”5

• 1. A critical look at animal testing (Medical Research Modernization Committee)
• 2. The Harvard Medical School, “Vioxx taken off the market” - http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1204d.shtml
• 3. The Harvard Medical School, “Vioxx taken off the market” - http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1204d.shtml
• 4. The New York Times, “Supreme Court Allows Investors to Sue Merck Over Vioxx” - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/business/28bizcourt.html?_r=1&ref=vioxxdrug
• 5. The Sunday Times, “Merck relied on ghostwritten research on arthritis drug, Vioxx” - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3754076.ece