Panel says Vioxx can return to market

Merck & Co. Inc.'s withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx is safe enough to rejoin Pfizer's rival pain relievers Celebrex and Bextra on the U.S. market, an advisory panel said after concluding that all three medicines posed some level of heart risk. By 17-15 vote, in a stunning turnaround for Vioxx, assures lower litigation costs for Merck, which previously were estimated to exceed $20 billion dollars. Vioxx was withdrawn in September by Merck after a study showed the drug doubled heart attack and stroke risk compared with a placebo in patients who took it for at least 18 months. The FDA in most cases follow's the advisory panel's advice.

Steve - I guess killing an estimated 50,000 people is not enough. We should be outraged, yet, we find ourselves not surprised. Why shouldn't we expect this to happen?

Vioxx will no longer be a blockbuster drug, but that is not the point. The only thing Merck was interested in was to assure that Vioxx was not removed from the market by the FDA, which would have increased their litigation costs exponentially.