On May 30th of this year, it was admitted in Vioxx-related lawsuits by drug manufacturer Merck & Co. that its report in early 2005 of an 18 month time frame of Vioxx use in patients before heart complications became apparent. The statistical analysis test did not support this theory.
As Merck is facing 11,500 lawsuits related to Vioxx, the 18 month issue is crucial to the company, as well as the 20 million Vioxx victims in America. As part of their previous arguments, Merck argued that Vioxx only caused heart problems when used consistently for over 18 months. This seemed incredibly unlikely when it was proven in two of three lost cases (out of a total of five tried Vioxx cases so far) that the victim suffered heart problems in less than 18 months of Vioxx use. Merck’s false theory was based on the initial study named “Approve”, wherein 2,600 Vioxx patients were tested for the prevention of colon polyps.
In the Approve study it was noted that twice as many Vioxx patients suffered heart attacks as those taking sugar pills and other placebos. According to Merck, it was apparent that most of the heart attacks came after using Vioxx for 18 months. The major error of their analysis lay in the fact that they had also stated, conjunctively, that there was no extra risk of heart problems with Vioxx before 18 months.
If you or someone you know has been injured by Vioxx or other defective products, please contact a personal injury attorney such as Wooten, Honeywell, Kimbrough, Gibson, Doherty & Normand in Orlando, Florida.
