Top cardiologist blasts Merck’s defense
Dr. Eric Topol, chairman of the cardiovascular medicine department at the Cleveland Clinic, is one of the top heart doctors in the world. He also happens to be the one of those rare American doctors who is not in bed with the pharmaceutical companies. No wonder then that he was an early critic of Vioxx and how Merck was misleading the whole world about its risks and benefits.
In the ongoing trial in Texas in the death of Richard “Dicky” Irvin, he was asked to testify and he was not shy in saying exactly how doctors (who still have some ethics left in them) feel about Merck. He called Merck’s behavior “repulsive” and “appalling” in his video testimony.
Dr. Topol’s testimony is not great news as several major developments last week clouded Merck’s chances for surviving as a top drugmaker.
Dr. Topol also made another important point that shows how Merck is not disclosing the facts. According to him, Vioxx can be lethal any time after a patient starts to take the drug. Merck is arguing that no harm is done by the drug if taken for less than 18 months. Millions of people worldwide have taken it for less than that period and many of them have experienced the dangerous side effects. Mr. Irvin too took the drug for just one month and Mike Humeston, who lost his case, was also a short-term user.
He also blasted Merck’s argument that the company knew about the risks of the drug only in September 2004 when it decided to recall it. Dr. Topol thinks that the risks were known as early as 1999.
Related articles: Merck hid Vioxx risks and deaths for years
Merck admits that Vioxx is dangerous for short-term users too
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.