Merck

That Merck knew Vioxx increased heart attack and stroke risk, and continued marketing it while managing the presentation of its own trial data.

Vioxx launched in 1999 and reached around 80 million patients. The 2000 VIGOR trial showed a fivefold increase in heart attacks versus naproxen. The published account attributed this to naproxen being protective rather than Vioxx being harmful. Litigation discovery later produced internal documents showing awareness of the cardiovascular signal, and a "Dodge Ball" training document coaching sales representatives on deflecting physicians' safety questions.

Accounts are deliberately not collected here. This entry documents a historical case rather than a circulating remedy.

Merck withdrew Vioxx in September 2004 after the APPROVe trial confirmed the risk. FDA scientist David Graham testified to the Senate that Vioxx may have caused 88,000 to 139,000 excess heart attacks in the US, around 30 to 40 percent of them fatal. Merck settled for $4.85 billion in 2007 while denying liability. This is a documented case of a manufacturer's own data being reframed in publication, and it is the specific reason "the drug companies knew" is not always paranoia.