Vytorin and Zetia

Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. will pay $5.4 million to settle civil claims with the attorneys general of 35 states and the District of Columbia which charged that the companies covered up test results that cast doubt on the effectiveness of two blockbuster cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia. After a nearly two-year delay in the release of the full results of the so-called ENHANCE clinical trial, the companies released studies in 2008 showing Vytorin and Zetia worked no better to reduce clogged arteries than a high dose of a less-expensive, generically available statin alone.