NEJM stands by its criticism of Vioxx study

The New England Journal of Medicine last week reaffirmed the expression of concern that it made last December, about the omission of three heart attacks from a study of rofecoxib (Vioxx) published in 2000. The online editorial was published on 22 February 2006 (http://content.nejm.org, doi: 10.1056/NEJMe068054).

The journal also published responses from 11 authors of the study who are not employed by Merck, the drug's manufacturer, and from two authors who are (doi: 10.1056/NEJMc066096).

The controversy concerns the VIGOR (Vioxx gastrointestinal outcomes research) study, which compared upper gastrointestinal toxicity of rofecoxib with naproxen and was published in the journal in 2000 (New England Journal of Medicine 2000;343: 1520-8).

Last year, the journal editors reviewed electronic documents relating to the study when the journal's executive …