Scientist: Merck did not hide Vioxx data
A scientist who helped develop the painkiller Vioxx yesterday rejected assertions by a plaintiff's lawyer that Merck & Co. tried to conceal from regulators unfavorable data about the popular arthritis drug's potential heart-safety problems.
Dr. Briggs Morrison defended the company's handling of a 1995 clinical study that cited positive effects of so-called cox-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx on the body, saying the data were included in Merck's 1998 application to the Food and Drug Administration to sell Vioxx.
But plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier said Merck's new-drug application filled more than 120 boxes of documents, suggesting that Merck purposely buried data that showed Vioxx made users more susceptible to heart attacks.
''Do you think the FDA really zoned in on that one paper in those 127 boxes?" Lanier asked Morrison.
Morrison, vice president of Merck Research Laboratories, is Merck's first witness in the case, which centers on two New Jersey men who suffered heart attacks while taking the drug.
Dr. Briggs Morrison defended the company's handling of a 1995 clinical study that cited positive effects of so-called cox-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx on the body, saying the data were included in Merck's 1998 application to the Food and Drug Administration to sell Vioxx.
But plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier said Merck's new-drug application filled more than 120 boxes of documents, suggesting that Merck purposely buried data that showed Vioxx made users more susceptible to heart attacks.
''Do you think the FDA really zoned in on that one paper in those 127 boxes?" Lanier asked Morrison.
Morrison, vice president of Merck Research Laboratories, is Merck's first witness in the case, which centers on two New Jersey men who suffered heart attacks while taking the drug.
posted by Chris Placitella at 9:33 AM
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