Vioxx was over-prescribed and under-regulated

A study of the arthritis drug Vioxx has shown that it may have caused up to 140,000 cases of heart disease in the United States before it was withdrawn from sale. A separate study finds that many of the victims may have received the drug unnecessarily.

The estimate comes from David Graham, a researcher at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Rockville, Maryland, and his colleagues. The painkiller rofecoxib, sold under the name Vioxx by New Jersey-based manufacturer Merck, was pulled from the market in September 2004. The decision was made after a study of Vioxx’s effect on colorectal cancer revealed that it increased patients’ risk of heart attacks.