Merck & Company has released study data that shows that Vioxx users were not at increased risk of heart attack or stroke in the year after stopping the drug. Merck said data from an additional year of follow-up, did not show a statistically significant difference in the rate of heart attacks and strokes among patients who had been on Vioxx and those who had taken a placebo.
However, there was a higher rate of complications, mainly strokes, among those taking Vioxx over all four years covered in the new data: the original three years of the study and the follow-up year after patients were taken off the medicine.
Merck faces about 10,000 lawsuits over Vioxx, and has lost half of the six cases to come to trial so far.
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