The chief executive officer and chairman of Merck, Raymond Gilmartin, resigned unexpectedly last week, the same day a damning US Congress report on the company was released.

Even though Mr Gilmartin stepped down hurriedly a year ahead of schedule, Merck's official position is that the resignation was not connected to the growing global controversy over its anti-arthritis drug rofecoxib (Vioxx), which was withdrawn from the market late last year, after studies produced evidence …