Merck intimidated scientists prior to recalling Vioxx
As Vioxx lawsuits move through the court systems and the first ever trial of Cheryl Rogers takes place next month, more details about Merck’s tactics are emerging prior to recall of Vioxx. According to Thomas Ginsber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Harvard University professor Lee Simon was threatended by Louis M. Sherwood, then a senior vice president at Merck, for questioning the safety of Vioxx.
It so turned out that Proessor Simon was absolutely correct and now almost all independent experts concur that Vioxx is too dangerous a drug to be on the market, though earlier reports indicate that Merck wants to sell Vioxx again. Merck’s employees were so aggressive in marketing of Vioxx that they prepared their salesforce in avoiding questions from doctors. Merck also used phantom research to argue that Vioxx was a safe drug.
There are other reports of intimidation of scientists and researchers. Dr. Gurkirpal Singh was threatened when he asked for data from Merck. In another instance, Merck forced one of its scientists to dissociate herself from a team of scientists that had decided to publish an academic paper questioning the safety of Vioxx. The FDA estimates that as many as 140,000 Americans have been injured by Vioxx and as many as 50,000 Americans may be dead.
While deaths of thousands of Americans may be one of the outcomes of Merck’s unethical behavior, for people like Professor Simon, things did not turn out so well. He was not promoted after Merck executive called his boss to complain.
It has since been revealed in several publications that drug companies, through their sponsorship of medical research, often influence results by deciding the methodologies. Studies that are not favorable to the drugs are never published and only positive results are published. Similarly, FDA also influences what the agency does through hundreds of lobbyists in Washington and through campaign contributions.
It appears that such behavior by drug industry executives is not limited to Merck but is widespread. However, since Merck is a target of several Vioxx related class action lawsuits and is being investigated by several state and federal agencies, a lot of documents have since become public.
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Merck used ‘dodgeball’ as the name of their campaign to handle questions, but what was the name they applied to a list of Dr’s. that were outspoken critics of Vioxx??
The name applied to that list of Dr’s.. a ‘Hit List’ of sorts .. Dr’s. they wanted discredited or shut up .. RC A name