The former chairman and CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Merck, Roy P. Vagelos, has bought a $21 million condo at 15 Central Park West, city records today show.
At Merck until 1994, Mr. Vagelos was largely credited with shepherding the firm through its pre-Vioxx golden years. Since his departure, Merck has been rocked by a series of high-profile scandals, most notably its recall of its best-selling arthritis drug Vioxx after a study revealed it caused heart attacks. An FDA official called it “maybe the single greatest drug-safety catastrophe in the history of this country.” In 2007, Mr. Vagelos received the Prix Galien Humanitarian award for his role in eliminating the disease river blindness.
