Regulators want more data on Merck drug

? The Food and Drug Administration told Merck & Co. that further safety and effectiveness data would be needed before approval of the company’s successor drug to now-defunct pain reliever Vioxx, the company said Friday.

Most analysts and doctors had not expected the FDA to give Arcoxia a green light because Merck pulled Vioxx from the market last month after a study showed it doubled patients’ risk of heart attacks and strokes. The two products are in the same class of drugs known as cox-2 inhibitors.

“I think it is a positive that the drug wasn’t killed,” Bert Hazlett, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Merck said the FDA gave it an “approvable” letter on Arcoxia with the condition that the company provide further safety and efficacy information. It was unclear what the company would need to do to achieve final approval.