Painkiller in the dock

摘要

The attention of the global pharmaceutical industry is fixated this month on a courtroom in Texas. In the little town of Angleton, Merck is defending an allegation that its blockbuster painkiller Vioxx killed Robert Ernst, a 59-year-old personal trainer from nearby Keene. The case is the first of some 4,000 Vioxx lawsuits filed against Merck to come to trial. The company, based in New Jersey, withdrew the painkiller from the market last September, after one of its clinical trials showed that prolonged use of the drug doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes.