The Boston Globe, "Merck told sellers to avoid talk of Vioxx heart risks; Lawmakers blast drug makers tactics"

          Merck & Co. trained an army of employees visiting doctors' offices to avoid discussing negative studies about Vioxx despite mounting evidence that the arthritis painkiller caused heart attacks and strokes, according to company documents released yesterday at a congressional hearing.
           The hearing came the same day that embattled Merck chief executive Raymond Gilmartin was replaced by Richard Clark, a company veteran. Members of the House Committee on Government Reform yesterday blasted the drug maker for willfully misleading doctors even after a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee asked it to alert physicians to Vioxx's heart risks.
          A Merck representative testified that its 3,000-person sales staff simply conveyed the drug's known risks, as outlined on the Vioxx label. The Senate has held scores of hearings on Vioxx and drug safety since Sept. 30, when Merck pulled Vioxx from the market after a study showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes when taken at high doses for at least 18 months. It remains uncertain what may come of House investigative work that uncovered 20,000 pages of training documents and memoranda circulated among the company's senior executives.