VIOXX Crisis

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the way in which Merck dealt with the public relations nightmare that it found itself in after a study in the "New England Journal of Medicine" revealed that there was an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who were using Merck's popular pain relief medicine, VIOXX. The paper considers whether Merck knew that VIOXX posed as a significant cardiovascular risk and, if it did, what were the public relations implications of not removing the drug from the market in a more timely manner.

From the Paper:

"When Merck removed VIOXX, it's popular and lucrative COX-2 inhibitor from worldwide distribution in September of 2004, the chief executive of the company stated that Merck was primarily concerned with putting the safety of consumers first (Wilde-Mathews and Martinez, 2004). A large scale prospective study of the effects of drugs like VIOXX called the Vigor study performed at the Cleveland Clinic had found that COX-2 inhibitors - the popular painkillers celecoxib (Celebrex - Pharmacia; Pfizer) and rofecoxib (VIOXX - Merck) - may cause a slight increase in a patient's risk of stroke, heart attack or even death. The findings from this study were originally published in the August 22nd issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association."

More papers on VIOXX Crisis:

• Essay # 67786 : "Crisis Communication in Public Relations"
• Research Paper # 90400 : "FDA and Vioxx"
• Analytical Essay # 4428 : "Effective Crisis Management Techniques"

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