BMJ  2005;330:1101 (14 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1101-a

News

Merck chief quits as further material on Vioxx emerges

Ray Moynihan

Sydney

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

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was not connected to the growing global controversy over its anti-arthritis drug rofecoxib (Vioxx), which was withdrawn from the market late last year, after studies produced evidence linking it to heart problems ( BMJ 2004;329: 816[Free Full Text]).

He will be replaced by the company's current head of manufacturing, Richard Clark. "Dick is a great choice to become the next chief executive officer," said Mr Gilmartin, in Merck's prepared statement about his resignation. "He has successfully led many of the company's most important strategic initiatives."

At the same time as Mr Gilmartin was resigning, a leading Democrat member of the US Congress's . . . [Full text of this article]


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BMJ 2004 329: 816. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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