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“Is
overmedicating the wave of the future?”
“Not
necessarily. The
thousands of lawsuits pending against pharmaceutical giant Merck
over the side effects of its painkiller Vioxx may have a
profound effect on our public and private regulatory systems.
The Food and Drug Administration already has tightened
its protocols.”
“Influential
medical journals now are calling for an international clinical
trial medical registry. This
is crucial. Right
now, a pharmaceutical company can conduct a dozen trials for a
new drug…only publish the positive-result trials…then use
those as evidence for drug approval or marketing.
Drug companies should have to register every study in a
central database and publish results so that we can judge for
ourselves what to allow into our medicine cabinets.” --Excerpt
from The
Medicating of America article
Vioxx
is one of a new group of pharmaceuticals called COX-2
inhibitors. It is used to treat adults who experience
acute pain, patients who have symptoms of osteoarthritis, and
women who have painful menstrual cycles.
Side effects of this drug can
include upper respiratory tract infection, diarrhea, nausea,
heartburn, swelling of the lower legs or feet, high blood
pressure.
Further research has found that
Vioxx has been connected to five instances of a nonbacterial
type of meningitis.
Other side effects include
increased chances for heart attack, kidney damage, and in rare
cases, serious ulcers.
August 19, 2005
Vioxx®
Settlement
On October 1,
2004, an entry here (Merck
Withdraws Vioxx®) announced the decision by the company
for a voluntary withdrawal of their arthritis and pain
medication Vioxx® (rofecoxib) because study results showed that
patients who used the drug for 18 months had an increased risk
of cardovascular (CV) events, such as heart attack and stroke.
In the first personal-injury case over the drug to come to
trial, on August 19, 2005 a jury ruled that Merck & Co. must
pay more than $253 million to the family of a Texas man who died
after taking the company's Vioxx painkiller.
Settlement news
from this page: http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/a/195234.htm
Vioxx
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