Opinion ID: 1211810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Falling Vioxx Sales and the Harvard Study (October 2003)

Text: On October 22, 2003, Reuters published an article entitled Merck to Cut 4,400 Jobs, posts Flat Earnings, in which it reported that Merck was hurt by falling sales of arthritis medicine VIOXX and a paucity of profitable new drugs. ... The arthritis drug is suffering from clinical trial data suggesting it might slightly raise the risk of heart attacks. ... App. at 570. That day, Merck's stock price dropped from $48.91 to $45.72, down 6.5%. On October 30, 2003, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled VIOXX Study Sees Heart-Attack Risk, which addressed a recent study by the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston that found an increased risk of heart attack in patients taking Vioxx compared with patients taking Celebrex and placebo (the Harvard study). App. at 571. According to the article, [i]n the first 30 days, the researchers found, VIOXX was linked to a 39% increased heart-attack risk compared with Celebrex. Between 30 and 90 days, that increased relative risk was 37%. App. at 571. A researcher stated that this was the best study to date and that it greatly substantiates our concerns about the cardiac side effects of Vioxx. App. at 571. Merck's stock price dropped below the S & P 500 Index during this time, and did not rise above that index during the remainder of the class period.