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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Merck hid crucial Vioxx data, scientist says

John Curran Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Alzheimer’s disease patients who took Vioxx in two studies had higher death rates than those on a placebo, but Merck & Co. never notified physicians or its sales representatives, its former chief scientist conceded in testimony played in court Tuesday.

Edward Scolnick, former president of Merck Research Laboratories, said under questioning by a lawyer for a postal worker suing the Vioxx maker that doctors prescribing the popular arthritis drug should have been told about the data in 2001.

However, some of the Vioxx users died from causes other than heart attack or stroke, including electrocution, pneumonia, head injury, infection and cancer, Scolnick said on cross-examination by Merck attorney Stephen Raber.

Merck pulled Vioxx off the market last year after a study showed it raised the incidence of heart attacks and strokes. The New Jersey case, filed by Frederick “Mike” Humeston, 60, of Boise, Idaho, is the second trial of about 5,000 product liability lawsuits brought against the Whitehouse Station-based drug maker. Humeston survived a 2001 heart attack two months after he started taking Vioxx to ease pain from an old war wound.

Humeston, a Vietnam veteran who filed his suit in 2003, is to testify Wednesday.

The two Alzheimer’s studies, involving about 2,000 patients, were done to determine whether Vioxx could delay the onset or worsening of the neurological disorder. In one, 13 people taking Vioxx died, compared with three taking a dummy pill; in the other, 21 Vioxx takers died, versus nine on placebo.

“You told people about this, right?” Humeston lawyer David Buchanan asked Scolnick in a videotaped May 17 deposition that was played for jurors.

Scolnick, who retired in 2002 and struggled to remember details of Merck’s Vioxx studies, said he didn’t know whether the data were given to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It was, according to internal Merck documents later shown to jurors.

Scolnick acknowledged no letter was sent to physicians and that data about deaths among Alzheimer’s patients was not added to the information card Merck salespeople used to answer doctors’ questions.

“You’d agree mortality data is important and something physicians should know?” Buchanan said.

“It’s data the physician should know,” said Scolnick.

Merck spokesman Jim Fitzpatrick said outside court that Merck didn’t notify physicians or sales reps because the higher death rate among the Vioxx users was “statistically insignificant” — or possibly due to chance — once the deaths from other causes were excluded.

Also Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee dealt Merck a pair of strategic setbacks, rejecting motions to keep a cardiology expert from taking the stand on Humeston’s behalf and to strike testimony already given by Dr. Benedict Lucchesi as part of the plaintiff’s case.