University of Washington professors have published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that shows that the makers of Vioxx were well aware of the drug’s dangers before the major recall.

The article, which was published on Tuesday, April 15, 2008, shows that Merck knew about the dangers of Vioxx in 2001. Merck had internal knowledge that the patients enrolled in clinical trials were dying at three times the rate of the patients who were on placebos.

The article asserts that Merck minimized the actual number of deaths that resulted from Vioxx and withheld information from federal officials.

An attorney for Merck claims that the pharmaceutical company disclosed all documents to federal officials.

Vioxx was prescribed for arthritis and pain management. Merck promoted the drug as a safer alternative to aspirin. A major recall of Vioxx was issued in 2004 after numerous reports of serious illness and death were attributed to the drug. Data was submitted to the United States Food and Drug Administration as early as 2000 regarding the dangers associated with Vioxx.

Defective drug attorneys are working on cases in which serious illness and fatalities have occurred due to prescription drugs like Vioxx.

A study conducted by Dr. Salman Hyder at the University of Missouri shows that there is a link between common Hormone Replacement Therapies and breast cancer.

A newly released report claims that pharmaceutical company Merck engaged in various forms of scientific deception to downplay risks of the painkiller Vioxx and promote the drug’s sale.  Merck disguised in-house studies to appear to have been conducted by independent scientists at medical schools, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Information for the report was gathered using thousands of documents uncovered during Vioxx-related lawsuits.