So according to the NEJM there were serious errors in the original Vioxx study–that is errors of omission.

The New England Journal of Medicine publicly alleged Thursday at least two of the authors of a major Canadian-led study on the former blockbuster drug Vioxx withheld data on adverse events from the journal.

So as the NEJM now says the Merck team hid an additional three heart attacks from the data in the VIGOR study as the deaths occurred after a cut-off date. If they’d included them the risk of having an MI was 500% higher not 425% higher with Vioxx compared to an NSAID.

On the other hand why didn’t the researchers just move the cut-off dates for deaths in Vioxx patients in study back to before they started on the drug. That would have produced much better data!