NCBO technology used to extract Vioxx heart-attack risk from EMRs

The NCBO team has performed a proof-of-concept study to demonstrate that text-mining patient records could be an effective way to gather information on safety, efficacy, and potential new drug indications.

The team presented the work earlier this month at the Bio-Ontologies Special Interest Group Meeting, held prior to the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology Conference.

The paper found that the anti-inflammatory drug rofecoxib, marketed by Merck as Vioxx, increased the risk of serious coronary heart disease. Merck withdrew the drug from the market voluntarily in 2004.

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