According to a document provided to plaintiffs’ lawyers by Merck and Co., makers of the recalled arthritis drug Vioxx, the manufacturer sought to reformulate the drug in 2000 to reduce its cardiovascular side effects. Company scientists looked into combining Vioxx with another agent in order to reduce its risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients, even as the company was publicly downplaying a widely circulated study that highlighted the dangers of the drug.

Merck removed Vioxx from the market in September of 2004 after a later study proved that Vioxx doubled patient’s risk of heart attacks and strokes. Since that time thousands of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits have been filed against Merck . The first trial against the drug maker is set to begin in July in Angleton, TX. Anthony Sebok, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the company’s desire to reformulate Vioxx “suggests a level of concern about the drug” that may point to their liability in these cases.

The document provided to lawyers was an internal company memo. It reveals that Edward Scolnick, the former head of Merck’s research labs, suggested combining Vioxx with an agent that would block blood platelets from clotting. Such clots can lead to heart attacks and strokes. The first date on the document is March 30, 2000.

The document’s authors wrote that Vioxx might reduce the production of prostacyclin, a substance that prevents the aggregation of platelets. That reduction may alter the ratio of prostacyclin to thromboxane, a substance that can constrict blood vessels and cause clotting. The change may cause adverse cardiac and cerebral events, such as strokes, heart attacks, and sudden cardiac death.

Merck filed an application with the U.S. Patent Office in 2001 to combine Vioxx with a thromboxane inhibitor, but later dropped the project.

Source: Theresa Agovino, “Internal document shows Merck tried to change Vioxx in 2000,” Associated Press, June 23, 2005.