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Merck Deals With Legal Fallout

Merck and Co. investors worried Friday over new claims that the company withheld data about the risks involved with taking the painkiller Vioxx. The new claims came amid a federal jury deliberation over whether Vioxx contributed to the death of a Florida patient. Merck?s stock fell 2 percent to 29.13 at the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Vioxx was taken off of the market in 2004 after it was shown to double the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients using the drug for more than 18 months. There are now more than 6,000 lawsuits pending against Merck in the United States alone.

The new claims came via the New England Journal of Medicine, which reported Thursday that Merck had deleted information about at least three heart attacks in a Vioxx study submitted for publication in the medical journal. The study had already contained 17 heart attack cases within the study that was published.