"After a March 2000 study linked Merck's painkiller Vioxx to heart problems, Merck instructed its marketing force not to discuss the findings with physicians, according to company documents released Thursday by a congressional committee. Instead, Merck's sales staff provided doctors with different studies that suggested Vioxx was safe.
"Those actions, along with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, helped make Vioxx a success for Merck. It reached $2 billion in annual sales faster than any of the company's other drugs, said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. But Vioxx may also have been a factor in thousands of heart attacks and strokes in patients who would have been better served with another medication, according to medical experts." [Kansas City Star]
