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Merck CEO shoots back on Vioxx
Says company behaved "responsibly and "ethically" while handling recalled arthritis drug.
Merck & Co. Inc.'s chief executive officer Monday defended the company against criticism it knew its arthritis drug VIOXX® increased the risk of heart attacks and stroke before it was withdrawn in September.
Raymond Gilmartin told the Reuters Health Summit in New York that he would not do anything differently in handling VIOXX® and said the company behaved "responsibly" and "ethically."
"I sleep at night and the reason is because of how we've conducted ourselves every step of the way," he said.
Gilmartin said his focus now is restoring the company's earnings growth, which has been hurt because of increased competition and patent expirations overseas for its Zocor cholesterol drug.
He said he sees its new cholesterol drug, Vytorin, together with hoped for approvals of new vaccines, new diabetes drugs and a new insomnia drug driving growth in the later part of the decade.
Gilmartin said he has no plans to retire earlier than his scheduled date of 2006, when he reaches the age of 65.
"The process is quite orderly and deliberate," he said. "There's no change in that timetable."
He said the new person will have to be committed to scientific excellence and to strong ethics. He said Merck is looking both inside and outside the company for a successor.
"We do have internal candidates. We have accomplished people reporting directly to me that have the potential to succeed me," he said. "But the board is duty-bound to look at outside candidates."
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