Risks spur Merck to pull painkiller off market.

Oct. 1--Merck & Co. withdrew its blockbuster prescription painkiller Vioxx from the market Thursday after finding the drug doubled risks of heart attacks and strokes.

The announcement sent the stock of the Whitehouse Station-based drug giant plummeting nearly 27 percent and raised serious questions about the future of the company, one of New Jersey's largest.

The Food and Drug Administration advised the medicine's 2 million patients to immediately stop taking the drug -- the world's second biggest-selling painkiller -- and contact their doctors. Merck said 84 million patients have been prescribed the drug since it was approved in 1999. Although the FDA said it had no information on the risk to patients who stop using the drug, experts said Vioxx dissipates very quickly, so stopping it should reverse risk.

Raymond Gilmartin, CEO of Merck, said that the company could have continued to sell Vioxx with new labeling, but decided to voluntarily withdraw all forms of the medicine, given the availability of other drugs.

"We are taking this action because we believe it best serves the interests of patients," Gilmartin said at a New York press conference announcing the withdrawal.

Chief Financial Officer Judy Lewent said the company remained financially strong, but stock analysts said the loss of Merck's third-biggest-selling product was a major blow. Meanwhile the company, already facing product liability lawsuits from Vioxx patients, braced for more.

The FDA said it would closely…