Merck has received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice as part of a criminal investigation into the marketing of various drugs. The feds want info about marketing and selling these drugs - Temodar, which treats brain tumors; the PegIntron hepatitis C treatment; and Intron A, which treats certain cancers - from 2004 through the present, according to Pharmalot.

The subpoena was disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in which Merck reported results for the second fiscal quarter. The drug maker noted the subpoena was issued in connection with an investigation of criminal statutes. During most of that five-year period the drugs were marketed by Schering-Plough, which Merck acquired in 2009.

A Merck spokesman tells us the drug maker is cooperating, but declined to cooperate otherwise. Last fall, Merck reserved $950 million for an impending settlement of a federal probe into its research, marketing and selling practice for the the Vioxx painkiller that was withdrawn in 2004 after links to heart attacks and strokes.