The withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx is the biggest drug recall ever. No wonder Merck, the drug’s maker, is under the microscope. On Thursday, the magnification gets turned up a notch as congressional hearings begin to probe whether the drug, which doubled the rate of heart attack and stroke in a big clinical trial, should have been pulled sooner. Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ) Chief Executive Raymond Gilmartin will show up in person to address his company’s handling of what was its second-biggest drug.
