Health Propaganda, Exposed
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“It is a shame but it is a low incidence and it is mechanism based as we worried it was.”
Analysis of Merck internal documents released through tort litigation, plus published trials. Authors' interpretation of documents.
No external funding stated. Disclosed: "All authors have been consultants at the request of plaintiffs for recent suits against Merck related to rofecoxib."
Internal Merck emails and memos made public in Vioxx (rofecoxib) litigation, reviewed alongside the published VIGOR and APPROVe studies.
After VIGOR results circulated, Merck's chief scientist emailed: "It is a shame but it is a low incidence and it is mechanism based as we worried it was." The authors say the published VIGOR report counted gastrointestinal events a month longer than cardiovascular ones and omitted three later heart attacks in the rofecoxib group; Merck bought "nearly 1 million reprints."
It is written by plaintiffs' consultants and is an interpretation of selected documents; it does not compare rofecoxib's risk with other painkillers.
Merck denied liability and said it would fight each case; it later settled US claims. The authors note defenders say "we do not know how rofecoxib's cardiovascular risk compares with that of other COX 2 inhibitors."