The New England Journal of Medicine said it has discovered that data about three Vioxx patients who suffered heart attacks were excised from a crucial study sponsored by Merck & Co., making the painkiller look safer than it should have.

Attorneys for the plaintiff in a federal trial over Vioxx filed for a mistrial, citing data that was withheld from a Merck & Co. clinical study about the painkiller when it was submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. put profits ahead of consumers' safety by hiding heart risks of its Vioxx painkiller, a lawyer told a jury in closing arguments of the third trial of a lawsuit filed over the drug.

HOUSTON (Dow Jones) – The first federal trial on the risks of Merck & Co.’s (MRK) Vioxx edged toward jury deliberations Thursday morning, with closing arguments from the two sides.

Telling jurors their decision will have “far-reaching consequences for how drug companies conduct their business,” the attorney for a woman who believes her husband’s short-term use of Vioxx caused his death asked the panel to send Merck a message.

The jury in the first federal case against drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc.’s Vioxx adjourned on Thursday after deliberating for about two hours over whether the painkiller contributed to a Florida man’s death.

HOUSTON- jurors deliberated about two hours Thursday without reaching a verdict in the first trial stemming from a federal lawsuit against Merck& Co. over its once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

Jurors deliberated about two hours Thursday without reaching a verdict in the first trial stemming from a federal lawsuit against Merck & Co. over its once-popular painkiller Vioxx.

Jurors deliberated about eight hours today without reaching a verdict on whether Merck & Co.'s Vioxx contributed to the 2001 death of a Florida man who had been taking the once-popular painkiller for about a month.

A Merck executive denied today she tried to pressure one of the nation’s top cardiologists into not publishing an article in a highly respected medical journal raising concerns that Vioxx could cause heart attacks and strokes.