Vytorin Data Vexes Schering-Plough

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Merck (MRK Quote) and Schering-Plough (SGP Quote) are scrambling to salvage Vytorin, their new cholesterol-lowering drug, after a recent study raised safety concerns about the once-promising treatment.

In a special conference call held just hours ahead of their earnings reports, the two companies relied on outside medical researchers to break bad news about the recently completed Simvastatin Plus Ezetimibe in Aortic Stenosis (SEAS) study.

Terje Pedersen, a Norwegian doctor who led the SEAS trial, noted that Vytorin failed to work statistically better than placebo in reducing "major cardiovascular events" -- the study's primary endpoint -- and delivered a "disturbing finding" about the safety of the drug as well: That cancer rates among patients taking Vytorin during the SEAS study came in much higher than those among those taking placebo instead. ...