From Dow Jones: "FDA Study Estimates Vioxx Linked to 27,000 Heart Attacks"--
A study led by a Food and Drug Administration safety official projects that the widespread use of Vioxx may have led to more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before the drug's abrupt withdrawal last week by Merck & Co. (MRK), Wednesday's Wall Street Journal reported.The number is in comparison to how many similar incidents would have occurred had the same patients been taking Celebrex, the Pfizer Inc. drug that competed with Merck's blockbuster arthritis treatment. The analysis specifically found that from Vioxx's approval in 1999, through 2003, an estimated 27,785 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths "would have been avoided" had Celebrex been used instead of Vioxx.
Those figures don't come from actual counts, but are projections based on findings from an analysis of a database of patients of Kaiser Permanente, the big health-maintenance organization.
Do you have questions about Vioxx? Are you looking for a Vioxx lawyer? You can call my firm, Schaeffer & Lamere, for a free consultation at (618) 467-8200 or (888) 783-9679 (toll free) if you used Vioxx and suffered any of the following side effects:
- Heart attack;
- Stroke;
- Blood clots;
- Deep vein thrombosis;
- Pulmonary embolism.
You can also send an e-mail telling us what went wrong (click the "e-mail" link). We are attorneys who have had years of experience with pharmaceutical litigation like lawsuits against Merck, which manufactured Vioxx--as your Vioxx attorney, we can help!
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