Associated Press, "Lawyer: Merck Scrapped Study on Vioxx"

          Merck & Co. scrapped a planned study of the cardiac safety of Vioxx once it knew U.S. regulators were going to tone down their warning about heart risks for patients taking the painkiller, a plaintiff's lawyer argued Friday in a product liability trial.
          But Merck's former head of U.S. marketing, David Anstice, testified it was coincidence that the study was canceled in March 2002 as Food and Drug Administration regulators and Merck officials settled on putting a notice about Vioxx cardiac risks in the precautions section of the drug's label -- the fine-print package insert -- rather than in the higher-profile warnings section.
          "I do not know of any connection between the discussions that were going on around the labeling issue and decisions that were taken on this study," Anstice said.
          Vioxx, once a $2.5 billion-a-year blockbuster for Whitehouse Station-based Merck, was pulled from the market in September 2004 after Merck said other research showed Vioxx doubled risk of heart attacks and strokes with long-term use.
          The company now faces more than 13,000 Vioxx-related lawsuits and has vowed to fight them one by one. Merck has lost three trials so far, with juries awarding multimillion-dollar verdicts in each. The company plans to appeal those losses.