Merck with Another Painkiller

Merck is currently fighting the world’s largest civil action suit over its COX-2 painkiller Vioxx, which is being blamed for causing heart failure, sometimes fatal. So far, the courts seem to agree with the patients and their families.

However, Merck is asking for approval of another COX-2 painkiller, Arcoxia (etoricoxib). It points to the results of several trials, known as the Multinational Etoricoxib and Diclofenac Arthritis Long-Term program (MEDAL), that suggest the drug is as safe as diclofenac, another painkiller, and didn’t increase the risk of heart failure.

Journal of the American Medical Association