Study of High-Dose Zocor Is Inconclusive

A high-dose regimen of Merck & Co.’s cholesterol drug Zocor offered no conclusive benefits over a low-cholesterol diet and a lower dose of Zocor in preventing a recurrence of cardiac events in patients who had had heart attacks, a study indicated.

The results of the study, announced at a medical meeting in Munich, Germany, and in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., dealt a blow to Merck, the Whitehouse Station, N.J., pharmaceuticals maker that financed the 4,500-patient study to bolster sales of its drug.

Shares of Merck fell 22 cents to $44.93 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The study did show that Merck’s drug played a part in reducing major cardiovascular events, but the number of patients suffering the events overall wasn’t enough to produce significant conclusions.