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Merck Stops Vioxx Sales due to Health Threats: Vioxx Pills Close-up

Sharon wrote in:

This is the drug I took for the first half of this year for arthritis (Vioxx) and now they have pulled it off the shelf saying it causes heart attacks and strokes....the only reason I stopped taking it was because the cost went up so high I could not afford on my insurance...so I switched to a cheap generic.......when I went to the Heart Specialist a few weeks ago he put me on Bextra...which is almost exactly like Vioxx.......with the same warnings on the presc....so now I am wondering just how safe is this one?

I suspect we will be having more and more of this kind of thing happen in the big world of drugs/prescriptions

Just think of all the people who now take Vioxx and it is in their kitchen...now they have to go to the Dr. and get new presc. for some other toxic drug to take its place......it will be a mess for all these people...I am glad I am on another toxic drug(lol)

Latest Vioxx News::::

The New Jersey based Merck & Co. is pulling its hot selling Vioxx from the market after new data found the arthritis drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Merck said Thursday the clinical trial data showed an increased risk of heart attack and other cardiovascular complications 18 months after patients started taking Vioxx, which also is prescribed for acute pain and disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome. The three-year study which aimed at showing that Vioxx could prevent the recurrence of polyps, which can turn cancerous, in the colon and rectum was stopped after Merck discovered participants had double the risk of a heart attack compared to those taking a placebo. This is indeed another disaster for Merck. There are also plans announced for a class-action lawsuit against Merch where one lawyer claimed to represent 58 patients around the country allegedly harmed by Vioxx, including people who suffered a heart attack, stroke, internal bleeding or kidney failure. Merck spokesman Tony Plohoros said the company anticipates additional personal injury lawsuits over Vioxx may be filed and will defend them to the end.

Vioxx Statistics:

About 2 million people worldwide use Vioxx.

84 million prescriptions have been filled since it came on the market with great fanfare in 1999.

Vioxx is one of Merck's most important drugs, with $1.8 billion in U.S. sales in 2003 and global sales of $2.5 billion — 11 percent of the company's $22.49 billion in revenue that year.

Medical experts advised patients Thursday to stop taking Vioxx and consult their doctor about alternatives.

Merck said the recall will slash about 50 cents to 60 cents a share from its earnings for the rest of this year. That includes foregone sales, writeoffs of inventory held by Merck, customer returns of product previously sold and other costs of the pullback. Merck expects foregone fourth quarter sales of Vioxx of $700 million to $750 million alone.

The Vioxx recall stands to benefit Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker. Merck and Pfizer have been battling for market share, with Pfizer's Celebrex arthritis drug dominating the market with about $2.6 billion in U.S. sales alone last year.

Pfizer issued a statement Thursday citing the "outstanding long-term safety profile" of Celebrex and saying that in a recent FDA sponsored study of 1.4 million patients, those who received Celebrex demonstrated no increased risk of cardiac trouble.

Vioxx was labeled with a warning about heart risks in 2002 after Merck's own study in 2000 uncovered the increased risk of heart attack and other complications. The Food and Drug Administration has been monitoring problems reported to it since then.

Celebrex and its successor drug, Bextra, as well as Vioxx and a successor drug called Arcoxia that is awaiting FDA approval, are part of a class of anti-inflammatory drugs touted by the pharmaceutical industry as being more effective and having less side effects, particularly on the gastrointestinal system, than older drugs.

Vioxx's removal will be a blow to hopes that it and other drugs in the class known as COX-2 inhibitors could be used to prevent cancer in people at high risk of developing it. A landmark study in 2002 showed that small, daily doses of aspirin could prevent colon cancer, and studies hinted that COX-2 inhibitors might do the same without aspirin's side effects. All COX-2 inhibitors can raise blood pressure, but Vioxx appears to be the only one that's been linked to higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.