Vioxx witness fired from top posts
A cardiologist who testified at a federal trial in Houston that Merck & Co. Inc.'s Vioxx pain reliever posed an "extraordinary risk" of causing heart attacks has been removed from two leadership positions at the Cleveland Clinic medical school.
Eric Topol, 51, criticized Merck in testimony Dec. 3 at the trial of a lawsuit by the widow of Richard "Dicky" Irvin, who blames her husband's fatal heart attack on Vioxx. Two days later, Topol was removed as provost and chief academic officer at the medical school. He remains chairman of the clinic's cardiovascular medicine department.
Federal jurors began deliberating Thursday on whether Merck, which has significant operations in the Philadelphia area, failed to warn of Vioxx's risks before pulling it off the market last year. The jury is to return today to resume deliberations.
In August, a Texas state jury ordered Merck to pay $253 million to the widow of a Vioxx user, an amount that will be reduced to $26 million under state law. Last month, a New Jersey jury ruled that Merck was not liable for the heart attack of an Idaho postal worker.
Topol's removal from the academic posts had "absolutely" nothing to do with his testimony or his views on Vioxx, said Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the Ohio hospital system. "We've had a series of changes in the administration and the way things are structured. Dr. Topol is a key physician here at the clinic, and he's done a tremendous amount that has contributed to the success of the clinic."
Topol did not immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment. He has been a professor at the Cleveland Clinic since 1991, and assumed the medical school posts in 2001.
Topol has been a central figure in the scientific debate over Vioxx - which generated $2.5 billion in annual sales before Merck withdrew it last year - saying it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes in long-term users.
Topol wrote a paper in 2001 highlighting the risks of Vioxx, concluding that patients experienced sharply higher rates of heart problems four to six weeks after starting the drug. Merck says Vioxx poses a risk only after 18 months of daily use.
Topol testified that he and his colleagues urged Merck to conduct clinical trials on the risks and that the company refused.
Topol told jurors in the Irvin case that Merck researchers visited him before he published his paper and said "we had gotten it wrong, and we'd be embarrassed if we published it."
In a videotaped deposition, he said former Merck chief executive officer Raymond Gilmartin called Malachi Mixon, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic's board, in October 2004 to question why Topol had targeted Vioxx.
As Topol recalled it, Gilmartin said: "What has Merck ever done to the Cleveland Clinic to warrant this?" Topol testified that the approach by Gilmartin "appalled" him.
In 2002, Topol helped found the medical school, which accepted its first students in 2004, Sheil said. On Monday, the clinic's board will review Topol's removal from the leadership posts by chief executive officer Delos Cosgrove, Sheil said.
Topol created the clinic's division of clinical research, and oversaw an increase in National Institutes of Health grants from $50 million in 2001 to $90 million in 2005, Sheil said.
Shares of Merck fell 55 cents to $29.13 in New York Stock Exchange trading.
Eric Topol, 51, criticized Merck in testimony Dec. 3 at the trial of a lawsuit by the widow of Richard "Dicky" Irvin, who blames her husband's fatal heart attack on Vioxx. Two days later, Topol was removed as provost and chief academic officer at the medical school. He remains chairman of the clinic's cardiovascular medicine department.
Federal jurors began deliberating Thursday on whether Merck, which has significant operations in the Philadelphia area, failed to warn of Vioxx's risks before pulling it off the market last year. The jury is to return today to resume deliberations.
In August, a Texas state jury ordered Merck to pay $253 million to the widow of a Vioxx user, an amount that will be reduced to $26 million under state law. Last month, a New Jersey jury ruled that Merck was not liable for the heart attack of an Idaho postal worker.
Topol's removal from the academic posts had "absolutely" nothing to do with his testimony or his views on Vioxx, said Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the Ohio hospital system. "We've had a series of changes in the administration and the way things are structured. Dr. Topol is a key physician here at the clinic, and he's done a tremendous amount that has contributed to the success of the clinic."
Topol did not immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment. He has been a professor at the Cleveland Clinic since 1991, and assumed the medical school posts in 2001.
Topol has been a central figure in the scientific debate over Vioxx - which generated $2.5 billion in annual sales before Merck withdrew it last year - saying it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes in long-term users.
Topol wrote a paper in 2001 highlighting the risks of Vioxx, concluding that patients experienced sharply higher rates of heart problems four to six weeks after starting the drug. Merck says Vioxx poses a risk only after 18 months of daily use.
Topol testified that he and his colleagues urged Merck to conduct clinical trials on the risks and that the company refused.
Topol told jurors in the Irvin case that Merck researchers visited him before he published his paper and said "we had gotten it wrong, and we'd be embarrassed if we published it."
In a videotaped deposition, he said former Merck chief executive officer Raymond Gilmartin called Malachi Mixon, chairman of the Cleveland Clinic's board, in October 2004 to question why Topol had targeted Vioxx.
As Topol recalled it, Gilmartin said: "What has Merck ever done to the Cleveland Clinic to warrant this?" Topol testified that the approach by Gilmartin "appalled" him.
In 2002, Topol helped found the medical school, which accepted its first students in 2004, Sheil said. On Monday, the clinic's board will review Topol's removal from the leadership posts by chief executive officer Delos Cosgrove, Sheil said.
Topol created the clinic's division of clinical research, and oversaw an increase in National Institutes of Health grants from $50 million in 2001 to $90 million in 2005, Sheil said.
Shares of Merck fell 55 cents to $29.13 in New York Stock Exchange trading.
posted by Chris Placitella at 6:13 AM
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