In medical news, a newly published study on the arthritis drug Vioxx has estimated the drug caused as many as 140,000 cases of heart disease and 56,000 deaths during the five years that it was on the market. The study appears on the website of the British medical journal Lancet. The study publication had been previously blocked by the Food and Drug Administration. The study found that low doses of Vioxx increased the risk of heart disease by about 50%, and higher doses increased it by 358%. The author of the study, Dr. David Graham of the FDA said he was pressured not to publish the study last November. The Pharmaceutical company Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in September.