Healthy Skepticism Library item: 17338
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Farnsworth S
Arthritis drug Vioxx doubled heart attack risk
ABC News 2010 Mar 5
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/05/2837400.htm
Full text:
The Federal Court has ruled that the controversial arthritis drug Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks in its users.
Melbourne man Graeme Peterson has been awarded $287,000 compensation, and the judgement is expected to have consequences for the 400 other participants in a class action against Vioxx’s manufacturer, the drug company Merck.
Vioxx became part of the biggest and most expensive recall in history when it was voluntarily withdrawn from worldwide sale in 2004 over health concerns.
Mr Peterson took legal action against Merck in 2005 and became the face of a class action law suit.
Today Justice Christopher Jessop ruled the drug did contribute to Mr Peterson’s heart attack and that he deserved compensation.
The decision found that Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attack for users, but the company did not try to cover up the risks before recalling the drug.
Justice Jessop told the court a clinical trial in 2000 showed “worrisome and important signals” of cardiovascular risk.
But said the company did not view the results in the same way, and rejected suggestions that Merck turned a “blind eye” to them.
The judgement found the company should not have overemphasised the safety of the drug, while down-playing the risks, and ruled Vioxx was not fit for purpose.
Vioxx was from the family of wonder-drugs, the “COX-2 inhibitors”, and was widely proclaimed as having a lower risk of stomach problems than other anti-arthritic drugs.
In October 2003, a year before the Vioxx recall, the Therapeutic Goods Administration warned doctors the drug did have an increased risk of “cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease”.
It was used by 300,000 people in Australia and tens of millions worldwide before it was pulled off the shelves.
In a US class action, Merck paid $US4.85 billion in settlement to 44,000 Vioxx users, but it made no admission of guilt.
