The Tico Times Online Daily Page

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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 01, 2004

NEW job: Manuel González (left) took office yesterday as the country's Foreign Trade Minister, appointed by President Abel Pacheco (right).
Photo courtesy of the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX)

Worldwide Drug
Recall Announced
Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., known in Latin America as Merck Sharp & Dohme, announced on Thursday its voluntary worldwide withdrawal of the arthritis and acute pain medication VIOXX.
(Click for more)

Agricultural Exports
Continue to Grow
During the first eight months of this year agricultural exports increased 10%, compared to the same period last year. Overall exports increased by just 0.7% during that period, according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).
(Click for more)

SETENA Rejects
Study for Pocosol Dam
The environmental-impact study for a controversial dam project was rejected this week by the Technical Secretariat of the Environment and Energy Ministry (SETENA).
(Click for more)

October 01

National Fair for Elders
Fun for elders and their families, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today through Sunday at the National Museum. Info: 223-8283.

Dance Show
El Barco Dance Academy will perform “Successive Times” at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the José Figueres Cultural Center in San Ramón, Alajuela. Info: 222-9398.

Long-Distance Race
14-kilometer race to benefit the Lions Club's charity projects, 9 a.m. Sunday in Guadalupe. Info: 828-9943, 241-4681.

Edited By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff
fborges@ticotimes.net

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Worldwide Drug
Recall Announced
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net

Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co., known in Latin America as Merck Sharp & Dohme, announced on Thursday its voluntary worldwide withdrawal of the arthritis and acute pain medication VIOXX.

According to the company's press release, the withdrawal was caused by the findings of a three-year clinical trial that showed an increased relative risk for cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, in patients who had taken VIOXX for more than eighteen months. The trial was designed to study the effect of long-term VIOXX use on the recurrence of neoplastic polyps, but the study has now been discontinued.

“Although the risk that an individual patient would have a heart attack or stroke related to VIOXX is very small, the study that was halted suggests that overall, patients taking the drug chronically face twice the risk of a heart attack compared to patients receiving a placebo,” said acting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Lester M. Crawford, in a statement.

No increased cardiovascular risk was shown in patients who had used VIOXX for less than eighteen months.

Merck Chairman, President and CEO Raymond V. Gilmartin downplayed the risk that could have been posed if the drug remained in use.

“We believe it would have been possible to continue to market VIOXX with labeling that would incorporate these new data,” he said in a statement posted to Merck & Co.'s Web site. “Given the availability of alternative therapies, and the questions raised by the data, we concluded that a voluntary withdrawal is the responsible course to take.”

Those currently using VIOXX, marketed in some countries as CEOXX, should consult a health professional in order to discuss an alternative, Dr. José Guillermo Jiménez, Medical Director for Merck, Sharp & Dohme in Costa Rica, told The Tico Times on Thursday.

The medicine was still available in San José pharmacies yesterday, but according to Jiménez, the company is in the process of communicating with distributors and doctors to stop sales and new prescriptions.

Merck expects to lose between $700 million and $750 million in foregone fourth-quarter sales of VIOXX. In 2003, worldwide sales of VIOXX totaled $2.5 billion.

The company has indicated that the worldwide costs of the withdrawal, including administrative costs, product returns, inventory write-off and the loss in sales, will result in a reduction of $0.50 to $0.60 in the company's earnings per share. The firm will provide additional information when it reports its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 21.

The drug, which has been marketed in more than 80 countries, was approved by the FDA in 1999 for the treatment of inflammation caused by arthritis, acute pain in adults and menstrual pain.

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Agricultural Exports
Continue to Grow

During the first eight months of this year agricultural exports increased 10%, compared to the same period last year. Overall exports increased by just 0.7% during that period, according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

Agriculture exports up until August totaled $981.9 million, up from $892.5 million during the same period in 2003.

The fastest-growing export crops are pineapples, which grew 31%, and malanga , a type of edible tuber similar to ñampí and tiquisque , which grew 48.8%. Other products that showed significant growth are ornamental plants (10.5%), foliage and leaves (8.2%) and melon (8.1%).

Traditional agricultural exports grew at a slower pace, including bananas (1.9%) and coffee (6.3%), according to PROCOMER.

Despite a 1.5% drop in industrial exports during the first eight months of this year, exports of industrial food products increased 22.5% during this period. Significant growth was demonstrated in sugar (27.4%) and fruit juice and concentrate (19.2%) exports.

The fastest-growing exports in this sector were ethylic alcohol, and sauces and prepared substances, which grew by 198% and 122.4%, respectively.

Cattle and fish exports dropped 10.6% during the first eight months. Exports of fresh, refrigerated and frozen fish dropped 31.8%. Exports of dry or smoked fish dropped 22.1%.

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SETENA Rejects
Study for Pocosol Dam

The environmental-impact study for a controversial dam project was rejected this week by the Technical Secretariat of the Environment and Energy Ministry (SETENA).

The study for the Pocosol hydroelectric dam in the Northern Zone was rejected Monday because it was not received within the allotted one-year time limit, according to Mariano Peinador, director of SETENA's project administration department.

The energy cooperative Coneléctricas R.L., which manages the project, must now start the process over and resubmit the project's proposal to SETENA, he said.

Last month, Coneléctricas uncovered indigenous artifacts near the proposed dam site, north of San Ramón, reportedly while widening access roads to the area.

The department of Anthropology and History of Costa Rica's National Museum visited the site and confirmed the presence of the pre-Columbian artifacts. Coneléctricas must now submit an archeological evaluation in addition to a normal environmental-impact study for its project, according to the museum's department of anthropology. Such an evaluation would be supervised by the museum.

Earlier this year, the San Ramón Municipal Council halted work on the project after officials from the municipality and the San Ramón office of the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) visited the site.

They said that if Conélectricas continued work it could permanently damage the area's ecosystem, which includes a delicate aquifer and numerous springs that feed into the Peñas Blancas River (TT, June 11).

At least one member of SETENA refuted that claim and determined that the negative impact on the environment was minimal.

The proposed dam site is adjacent to the Children's Eternal Rain Forest, a private reserve managed by the Monteverde Conservation League.

Representatives of Coneléctricas did not return Tico Times phone calls yesterday.

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