No pain,no gain

摘要

FOR medicines that were meant to relieve pain,Vioxx and its relatives-a new generation of anti-inflammatory drugs called the cox-2 inhibitors-are causing spasms all round.Since Vioxx was withdrawn from sale late last year by Merck,its maker,because of its association with an increased risk of nasty cardiovascular side-effects,sharp questions have been asked about how big drug firms communicate risks to the wider world,how they market their wares and how effective government regulators are in policing the industry.The American public now seems to distrust the very firms that are supposed to be helping to lead the fight against disease.