Europe's top drug regulator said yesterday that pharmaceutical companies were failing to share key clinical data with doctors and sometimes worried more about the stock market than about patients.

Mr Thomas Lonngren, executive director of the European Medicines Agency, said last month's worldwide withdrawal of Merck's arthritis drug, Vioxx, had highlighted the need for a better flow of information.

Merck pulled the $2.55-billion-a-year (€2.03 billion) seller after tests showed it increased the risks of stroke and heart attack, sending shockwaves through the industry.

Mr Lonngren said the incident had focused attention on deficiencies in current drug monitoring. "Once again, history has shown we don't have a sufficient system in place," he told a Financial Times pharmaceuticals conference.

While Merck won plaudits from health officials and industry analysts for acting promptly in taking Vioxx off the market, Mr Lonngren said the industry as a whole often resisted sharing sensitive clinical data with medics and the general public.

"More and better communication on the safety of medicines is the key, and here we are a little disappointed in the pharmaceutical industry, I would say, because they are focused more on the stock market sometimes," he said.

"We are very concerned about that, because we want the company when they have a problem to communicate with the regulator and not to bother about the stock market first."

Drug companies have come under attack this year for not revealing results of all clinical trials. - (Reuters)