Dangerous Drug Recalled

Dangerous Drug Recalled: Vioxx

Generic name: Rofecoxib
Manufactured and marketed by: Merck

Purpose: It was prescribed to treat symptoms of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain, and painful menstrual cycles.

Largest recall: Due to its enormous popularity, the recall of Vioxx in 2004 was the largest drug recall in history at the time.

Seeger Weiss is appointed Co-Lead counsel in the federal MDL Vioxx litigation and Co-Liaison counsel in the New Jersey state Vioxx litigation. If you have suffered a life-altering injury from taking Vioxx, complete this form for free evaluation.

Side Effects Reported

Vioxx was pulled from the market after internal studies by Merck & Co. showed that patients who were prescribed Vioxx were more likely to have cardiovascular problems than patients talking a placebo.

Vioxx began to come under fire in 2000, when the findings of the "VIGOR" study were reported to the FDA (Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research.)

This study was designed to see the degree in which Vioxx was safer on the stomach than an alternative painkiller, naproxen, which is sold under the brand name of Aleve.

The APPROVe study (Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx), conducted by Merck in 2001, indicated that Vioxx may pose almost twice the risk of patients suffering a heart attack or stroke, when compared to other patients taking a placebo.

The APPROVe study was meant to last for a period of three years, in order to look into the effects of Vioxx on preventing the recurrence of colorectal polyps, as other cox-2 inhibitors like Celebrex have already been prescribed for this reason.

The study was halted much earlier than expected, as the study showed that after more than 18 months of treatment with Vioxx, patients developed an increased risk of negative cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.

Industry Report

The VIGOR study reported that Vioxx users suffered more cardiovascular problems, including five times as many heart attacks, than did users of the pain medication, naproxen. In September of 2001, the FDA sent Merck a warning letter in regards to their Vioxx advertising campaign, which the FDA believed was minimizing the possible cardiovascular side effects of Vioxx. It was the VIGOR study that prompted the FDA to add a warning to Vioxx concerning the cardiovascular side effects in April of 2002.

A study, reported on by the Wall Street Journal, involving patient databases from the health maintenance organization (HMO) Kaiser Permanente, has reported that from 1999 through 2003, approximately 27,785 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths may not have occurred had Vioxx not been used. The study indicates that if Celebrex had been used, the cardiovascular problems may have been avoided. The study looked at 1.4 million Kaiser patients, who had taken an NSAID. Included amongst those patients were 26,748 Vioxx users and 40,405 Celebrex users.

Seeger Weiss

Seeger Weiss represents hundreds of clients from across the country who suffered injuries as a result of taking Vioxx, and the firm also represents union health and welfare programs in a class action pending in New Jersey for Merck's over-charging of union welfare funds for Vioxx. Besides seeking reimbursement for their expenditures to make the arthritis and painkiller drug available to their health plan members, the third-party payors would be entitled to triple damages if ultimately successful on their claims, under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Recently, in a unanimous decision, the New Jersey Appellate Division upheld a trial court's decision certifying a Vioxx-related nationwide class action against Merck, brought on behalf of third-party payors by Seeger Weiss.