Heart Doctor Says Merck Suppressed Vioxx Data

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A prominent cardiologist testifying in Merck & Co.’s federal trial over Vioxx accused the drugmaker of engaging in scientific misconduct, suppressing clinical evidence and stifling medical discourse as it promoted the painkiller.

Dr. Eric Topol, chairman of the cardiovascular medicine department of the Cleveland Clinic, called certain aspects of Merck’s behavior “repulsive” and “appalling” during a three-hour videotaped deposition played for the jury Saturday.

Topol said Vioxx can cause heart attacks any time after a patient begins taking it, and that its risks were apparent as early as 1999, when the drug was approved. Vioxx was removed from the market last year after a study showed it doubled patients’ risk of heart attacks and strokes after 18 months of use.

The jurors who heard Topol’s testimony Saturday will be asked to decide if the drug contributed to the fatal heart attack suffered by Richard “Dicky” Irvin in May 2001. The 53-year old former manager of a seafood wholesaler had been taking Vioxx for about a month for back pain. His widow is suing Merck.

Merck argues that the drug wasn’t responsible for Irvin’s death, saying problems with Vioxx surface after 18 months of use, not one month, and alleging that plaque in Irvin’s artery ruptured and caused the heart attack, not the drug.