Short term Vioxx users hurt

What Dr. Bernard Lucchesi said several months ago has been proved right. According to a study by Linda E. Lévesque, James M. Brophy, and Bin Zhang and published in a prestigious medical journal in Canada, a quarter of patients who suffered a heart attack while taking Vioxx did so within the first two weeks of their first prescription. Prof. Lévesque, of Queen's Department of Community Health and Epidemiology says, "This demonstrates that cardiovascular risks from taking Vioxx may occur much earlier than previously believed."

Dr. Lucchesi, a top cardiologist in the world, claimed that even intermittent use can cause a heart attack. He went so far to say that someone who has taken Vioxx even once may be at risk. This is in complete contrast to Merck's position that one has to take the painkiller for at least 18 months to suffer a heart attack. In fact, Merck has even won three lawsuits using that argument.

Merck is currently facing over 11,500 lawsuits and is expected to pay tens of billions in dollars in liabilities for causing the death of as many as 60,000 Americans who took the drug.

Victims of Vioxx have until September of this year to file a lawsuit against Merck and attorneys are reportedly signing up plaintiffs who took the drug only for a short period of time. For a while it seemed that short-term Vioxx users had no chance of receiving compensation from the firm.

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