Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) has headed back to the Food and Drug Administration with a drug that is meant to replace Vioxx. [subscription required] The Big Pharma company is still facing a number of lawsuits over whether Vioxx caused heart problems and stroke in some patients.
Merck's new drug is called Arcoxia and it is from the same category of drugs that Vioxx is, but the company has done extensive testing and is already selling the drug outside the US. Still, Arcoxia appears to have problems of its own as it has caused high blood pressure in some patients who are taking it in the trials.
Vioxx brought in $2.5 billion in revenue for Merck in 2003. However, the potential liability of the lawsuits against Merck could be as much as $15 billion.
Merck is left with a tough decision. Even if its new drug is approved for use in the American market, it would appear that it is not without side effects. And, side effects are already costing Merck a bundle, if only in legal fees.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-14-2007 @ 5:01PM
Lisa M said...
and today the FDA decided NOT to approve Arcoxia. Good call. The problem with selective COX-2 inhibitors is that COX-2 is involved in much more than pain and inflammation. COX-2 is entangled in nearly everything I've looked up on PubMed lately, both in my own narrow field of study and outside of it. COX-2 is connected with things I've worked on in the past, too, including gastrointestinal motility, and vascular smooth muscle contraction.
A lot of new drugs are that way, especially the ones that are eventually pulled off the market again. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone other than scientists in the labs doing basic life science research ever even look into the complexities of tinkering with these metabolic processes. It seems pretty clear to me that the physicians running clinical trials and management DON'T take the time to check.