New York Times, "Follow-Up Study on Vioxx Safety Is Disputed"
Two prominent medical researchers are taking issue with Merck's conclusion that a follow-up study of patients who took the painkiller Vioxx shows that the drug posed no "statistically significant" risk to the heart once people stopped taking it. Merck announced its conclusion on Thursday in reporting on the health of patients in a Vioxx study a year after that study was suspended in September 2004.