Merck suppressed evidence that its withdrawn arthritis pill Vioxx could harm patients, U.S. researchers charged on Tuesday.
An analysis of court documents suggests Merck knew about the problems years before it acted, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
They charge that Merck failed to disclose an internal analysis that found Alzheimer's patients taking Vioxx had a three times greater risk of death than patients taking a placebo.
"This is a major, serious safety signal," said Dr. Bruce Psaty of the University of Washington in Seattle, whose study compared internal Merck documents with data submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and published research.
"If these findings had been reported publicly in April of 2001, it is likely that many fewer patients would have chosen to use Vioxx and probably many fewer would have been injured," Psaty said in a telephone interview.
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