Company withdraws popular arthritis drug

9.45am

Multinational drug company Merck Sharpe and Dohme has withdrawn its popular anti-arthritis drug Vioxx after a trial found it could significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Up to 15,000 packets of the drug are sold every month in New Zealand.

Merck's United States-based chief executive Raymond Gilmartin said today the company decided to withdraw the drug - worth US$2.5 ($3.77) billion in annual worldwide sales - after a trial into its effectiveness in treating gastrointestinal problems.

The trial did not find any change in risk for people taking it for less than 18 months, but found the risk of heart attacks and strokes as much as doubled for people taking it longer.

The drug is commonly used as an acute pain medication for arthritis sufferer.

"Although we believe it would have been possible to continue to market Vioxx with labelling that would incorporate these new data. Given the availability of alternative therapies, and the questions raised by the data, we concluded that a voluntary withdrawal is the responsible course to take," Mr Martin said in a statement.

He said the new study had provided data that previous studies had not.

Patients who are currently taking the drug should contact their doctor to discuss alternative treatments.

Merck's New Zealand managing director Alister Brown today told National Radio Vioxx had been available here since March 2000.

He did not know the exact number of patients taking the drug, but between 15,000 and 16,000 packets were sold each month.

He said the drug had been advertised on television and heavily promoted by the company.

He was confident the company could quickly pull the drug from the shelves of local stores.

"We've already started that process. We started in the middle of the night," he told National Radio.

"We've already contacted all the wholesalers and told them to quarantine all the product and we will be contacting all the pharmacies and the doctors over the next few days."

Mr Brown said there was a range of alternative drugs available for arthritis sufferers and patients should contact their doctor to arrange a change.

He said until the latest trial the company did not have any "robust data" to show increased cardiovascular risk as a result of taking the drug.

He hoped Vioxx would be completely off pharmacy shelves by Monday.

Arthritis New Zealand executive director Alasdair Finnie said Vioxx would have a lot of users because of its heavy marketing.

He told National Radio there was no need to panic, but arthritis sufferers should contact their doctor as soon as possible to organise and alternative.

Going off the drug, which was very effective at treating pain, could be a shock to the system for some people, he said.

The drug retails for about $68 a packet.

- NZPA