Merck sought safer Vioxx as early as ‘98
I have to say that I am puzzled by this AP report from Theresa Agovino as published in today’s Miami Herald. The report alleges that Merck, apparently aware of cardiovascular problems with Vioxx, sought to reformulate Vioxx to make it safer. I am puzzled, because I believe that I have read the patent referred to in the story (WO9945913; although I don’t know for sure, because the article doesn’t cite the patent number), and I can’t find anything in it that suggests Merck was trying to fix a COX-2 inhibitor problem. Indeed, that is exactly what Merck’s lawyer says in the article. The patent simply refers to a method of co-prescribing COX-2 inhbitors with certain platelet aggregation inhibitors, with the rationale that inhibition of COX-2 has the potential to reduce chronic low-level infalmmation in the vessel wall, thus enhancing the anti-thrombotic effects of platelet aggregation inhibitors when used alone. Unless there is some evidence lurking in Merck’s labs that indicates another motive behind this patent, it is hardly a smoking gun as suggested by the story. Supporting this, the patent was not used by the plaintiff’s attorney in the Texas case. When asked why, attorney Mark Lanier said he wasn’t aware the patent existed. Frankly, I find this hard to accept, given that I was able to locate the patent using a simple three-term search strategy in about 1 minute. The title of the patent: “COMBINATION THERAPY AND COMPOSITION FOR ACUTE CORONARY ISCHEMIC SYNDROME AND RELATED CONDITIONS” is a little hard to miss.
