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Heart Attacks
& Related Newswire
7/5/2006 9:30:00 PM | Witness says studies showed Vioxx users at risk of heart ailments 
=(0) More compelling testimony for the plaintiffs in the California Vioxx trial: Dr. Lemuel Moye of the University of Texas said his analysis of early Vioxx trials concluded that the risks of heart attack and stroke outweighed the benefits. Further, some trials excluded patients who were at a higher risk of heart attack, thus skewing the resu...
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7/5/2006 5:26:00 PM | Lay's Death Viewed as Cautionary Tale of Catastrophic Stress =(0) From a medical point of view, Ken Lay's death, if confirmed to be due to heart disease, was not surprising. Uncontrollable, devastating life events are known to be risk factors for sudden cardiac death. They can bring on ventricular fibrillation followed by cardiac arrest, or cause an artery to close up or plaque (chunk of cholesterol) to brea...
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6/30/2006 3:12:00 PM | Merck Scientist Testifies Vioxx Caused More Heart Attacks Than ... =(0) Jurors for the California Vioxx trial continued to view videotaped depositions on the third day of the trial. A Merck researcher, Dr. Deborah Shapiro, testified that a 1999 study of 8000 patients showed that those given Vioxx had four times the number of heart attacks than those given Aleve (naproxen), an older NSAID. Merck claims that there i...
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6/29/2006 3:04:00 AM | Testimony: Feds not told about tests that exposed Vioxx dangers =(0) The former head of Merck's research laboratories was heard in a video deposition on the second day of the Vioxx trial in California. Dr. Edward Scolnick said that two studies in 2001 showed that patients on Vioxx were 2-4 times more likely to die than patients on placebo; however Merck did not submit these results to the FDA. Merck is being su...
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6/28/2006 9:13:00 AM | Plaintiff says Merck knew of potential dangers with Vioxx =(0) The first Vioxx trial to be held in California is under way. In opening statements, the plaintiff's lawyer said that Merck was aware of Vioxx's risks as far back as 1996 and did not inform doctors. Furthermore, the company specifically trained salespeople to downplay the risks. Stewart Grossberg claims the drug caused his heart attack an...
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6/27/2006 10:11:00 PM | Journal Corrects Vioxx Article to Reflect Short-Term Heart Risk =(0) The New England Journal of Medicine has issued a correction with regard to a study on the heart risks of Vioxx. The study, released in 2005 and funded by Merck, the drug company that made Vioxx, concluded that the risks of heart attack began only after 18 months of Vioxx treatment. A followup study, however, adds more data which suggests...
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6/27/2006 8:49:00 PM | Doctors advised to curb beta-blockers =(0) Health officials in Britain advise doctors to avoid prescribing "beta-blockers" as routine treatment for high blood pressure. While the drugs work, other medications now exist that work better with fewer side effects. Beta blockers carry an increased risk of type II diabetes, and symptoms such as lethargy. Recommendations are calcium chan...
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6/27/2006 6:32:00 PM | Plaintiff Lawyers Like Vioxx Correction =(0) Lawyers who lost Vioxx cases to Merck (three such cases, so far) are encouraged by the news that the New England Journal of Medicine has issued a correction with regard to a Vioxx study it published last year. The correction removed references to the crucial 18 month time period that Merck claims is a safe period before heart side effects kick in.&...
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6/27/2006 4:03:00 PM | Heart troubles often lead to depression =(0) A study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that depression after heart surgery is a very common effect; up to half of patients who undergo treatment for blocked arteries may develop it. Part of the reason may be psychological, a reaction to illness; part may be damage to blood vessels in the brain as a result...
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6/27/2006 4:44:00 AM | Doctor: Many women in denial about heart risk =(0) A doctor, interviewed for this article, believes that women do not take their risk of heart disease seriously; however it is the number one killer of women over age 25. He recommends analyzing your risk factors and changing what is possible - such as stopping smoking, losing weight, exercising more, eating properly. Screening blood tests are a...
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6/26/2006 6:17:00 PM | Homocysteine: A 'bloody' cause of heart attacks =(0) Doctors in India are concerned about a risk factor for heart attacks that seems to be specific to their population. Possibly for genetic reasons, and probably for nutritional ones, many in India have elevated blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid associated with increased risk of heart attack. A diet deficient in folic acid and vitamins ...
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6/26/2006 3:58:00 PM | Merck says Vioxx risk unchanged by data correction =(0) From the "if I say it, that makes it so" file, the drugmaker Merck continues to insist that studies originally reported in the New England Journal of Medicine are still valid despite a correction issued by that publication. The Journal retracted the part of the article that concluded that Vioxx heart risk only begins after 18 months of use, af...
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6/26/2006 8:51:00 AM | PBA To Start Its Own WTC Medical Registry To Track 9/11 Illnesses =(0) The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, a police union in New York, has begun its own online registry in order to keep a record of illnesses that develop in its members who were exposed to Ground Zero after the attacks of 9/11. Diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, and heart attacks may be entered by the membership. Meetings are also being ...
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6/23/2006 4:09:00 PM | Merck: FDA whistleblower's video testimony goes beyond limits =(0) Lawyers for drug company Merck are trying to suppress some testimony from an upcoming Vioxx trial. An FDA researcher, Dr. David Graham, made a video deposition in which he alleged that for two years, Merck resisted FDA requests to change the labelling on Vioxx to reflect what was becoming known about the risk of heart attacks and strokes with the d...
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6/22/2006 6:24:00 AM | Sudden cardiac arrest top killer of young athletes =(0) Sudden cardiac arrest is the number one killer of young, athletic people. Often the cause is a heart defect, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This birth defect occurs in one out of 500 people but is most likely to cause problems in serious athletes, as thickened heart tissue cuts off blood flow, leading to sudden death. The National Athletic...
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6/22/2006 3:27:00 AM | State Vioxx trial begins to pick jury =(0) The first Vioxx trial to take place in California is at the jury-selection phase. The plaintiff, Stewart Grossberg, claims his heart attack at age 66 was brought on by Vioxx, which he had taken for more than two years at that time. This case was originally set to be tried alongside that of Rudolph Arrigale, who had a heart attack after only fi...
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6/21/2006 4:09:00 PM | Finding new ways to deal with high blood pressure =(0) An intriguing new approach to controlling high blood pressure is being tested in the US. It's a device, surgically implanted in the chest, that somehow tricks the brain into thinking blood pressure is higher than it actually is, which then signals body processes that operate to reduce blood pressure. The device is intended to work alone o...
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6/21/2006 3:03:00 PM | Heart Risk Tied To Losing Job =(0) A data analysis by Yale University researchers shows that people who were fired or laid off from their jobs after age 50 had double the risk of heart attack and stroke as those who remained at work, even when other risk factors are taken into account. Doctors are urged to consider this part of a patient's history, as are employers when plannin...
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6/21/2006 9:52:00 AM | Statins found to reduce cataract risk =(0) A study to investigate whether cholesterol-lowering drugs had adverse effects on the eyes, has found the opposite: statin drugs seem to reduce the incidence of cataracts, a very common eye condition in the elderly. These drugs, such as Lipitor, lower cholesterol and are used to prevent heart attack and stroke, however they were previously foun...
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6/20/2006 11:30:00 AM | Lower is better for diabetics' bad cholesterol =(0) A study out of the UK suggests that higher doses of cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Lipitor may provide benefits to patients who already have heart disease and diabetes. That is, lowering LDL ("bad") cholesterol even further than the levels now recommended would protect these patients from stroke or heart attack even more. Lowering the aver...
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