NEJM stands by its criticism of Vioxx study

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7540.505-a

BMJ 2006;332:505 (4 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7540.505-a

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NEJM stands by its criticism of Vioxx study

Janice Hopkins Tanne

New York

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

The New England Journal of Medicine last week reaffirmed theexpression of concern that it made last December, about theomission of three heart attacks from a study of rofecoxib (Vioxx)published in 2000. The online editorial was published on 22February 2006 (http://content.nejm.org, doi: 10.1056/NEJMe068054).

The journal also published responses from 11 authors of thestudy who are not employed by Merck, the drug's manufacturer,and from two authors who are (doi: 10.1056/NEJMc066096).

The controversy concerns the VIGOR (Vioxx gastrointestinal outcomesresearch) study, which compared upper gastrointestinal toxicityof rofecoxib with naproxen and was published in the journalin 2000 (New England Journal of Medicine 2000;343: 1520-8[Abstract/Free Full Text]).

Last year, the journal editors reviewed electronic documentsrelating to the study when the journal's executive editor, GregoryCurfman, was preparing to testify at a trial in which a man'swife charged that rofecoxib . . . [Full text of this article]

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