Merck releases new safety data on Vioxx

Merck has released new data from a study which indicated that patients who took Vioxx over a period of three years continued to suffer from an elevated rate of heart attacks and strokes a year after they stopped taking the drug. The data was drawn from an ongoing analysis of the study that prompted Merck to pull the Cox-2 inhibitor from the market in 2004. The data was not statistically significant, however. Of the 44 people who experienced cardiovascular problems, 28 had taken Vioxx and 16 had received a placebo.

- here's the Wall Street Journal's report on the Vioxx data (sub. req.)