Scientist raps Vioxx claims

ATLANTIC CITY -- A Merck & Co. scientist, Dr. Alise Reicin, yesterday told jurors she disputes two editorials in the New England Journal of Medicine that criticized the company for publishing misleading data on the safety of its Vioxx painkiller.

Reicin denied claims that Merck withheld data in 2000 on a clinical trial comparing heart attacks in patients on Vioxx to those on another painkiller, naproxen. The journal said Merck underreported heart attacks by Vioxx patients and deleted data from a computer diskette given to editors. ''There was no data deleted," Reicin testified.

Lawyers for two men who blame their heart attacks on Vioxx, John McDarby, 77, and Thomas Cona, 59, cross-examined Reicin. Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004 when a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks. Merck, which faces 10,000 Vioxx lawsuits, has won two and lost one.