1, 1999, 79 patients out of 4,000 taking Vioxx have had serious heart problems or have died, compared with 41 patients taking naproxen.
![vigor pill vigor pill](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/250921fd-c1b7-4356-bb44-940e3c115141_1.54359c5b984640df68c4709dee7f2a77.jpeg)
November 1999: At the second meeting of the VIGOR safety panel, the discussion focuses on heart problems. It looks as if the study will be a success for Merck. 1, 1999, show that Vioxx patients have fewer ulcers and less gastrointestinal bleeding than patients taking naproxen.
![vigor pill vigor pill](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/526bd6eb-88d6-45ae-9755-ea01f3aeb176.77a16cf13257e459cb5bdebdbd1144a3.jpeg)
October 1999: First meeting of the VIGOR study's data and safety monitoring board (DSMB). May 1999: The FDA approves Vioxx, making the drug available by prescription in the United States.
#VIGOR PILL TRIAL#
The clinical trial is designed to see whether Vioxx is safer for the digestive system than naproxen, an older painkiller. Half take Vioxx and the other half take naproxen. With more than 8,000 participants, it is the largest study ever done of the drug. January 1999: Merck launches the Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research study (VIGOR). November 1998: Merck asks the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of Vioxx, having tested the drug on 5,400 subjects in eight studies. By that time, Merck had sold billions of dollars of the drug worldwide. Instead, the study would eventually show Vioxx could be deadly, causing heart attacks and strokes.įive years after Vioxx's launch, Merck withdrew the drug from the market.
![vigor pill vigor pill](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/3865d782-7b12-4fdb-8429-3330db0cf20b.7b95e4fcfe1c5db1602147e6bbd39ee6.jpeg)
Shortly before the FDA approved Vioxx in 1999, drug maker Merck launched a study it hoped would prove that Vioxx was superior to older painkillers, because it caused fewer gastrointestinal problems. Research published in the medical journal Lancet estimates that 88,000 Americans had heart attacks from taking Vioxx, and 38,000 of them died. Merck voluntarily withdrew Vioxx from the market in 2004.