The Wall Street Journal reports that internal e-mails, marketing documents and interviews with outside scientists who questioned the safety of the Merck arthritis drug Vioxx indicate that the company "fought forcefully for years to keep safety concerns from destroying the drug's commercial prospects." The Journal reports that it examined internal e-mails that show Merck officials discussed the increased cardiovascular-related risks related to Vioxx and proposed to design studies that would "minimize the unflattering comparison" with less-expensive, older pain medications.
Meantime, the Public Citizen Health Research Group has written the FDA citing 29 cases of kidney problems associated with AstraZeneca's cholesterol-lowering drug, Crestor, the AP/Hartford Courant reports.
Posted by schwitz at November 1, 2004 04:18 PMIt seems like drug companies have forgotton their mission - providing safe effective drugs - and have switched to the mission of making the most money. Sounds like someone needs to hold an ethics class for all drug company administrators!
Posted by: Marie Zhuikov at November 2, 2004 08:14 AMThe Journal article is shocking...and I agree that something needs to change.
The problem perhaps is that we've been conditioned or "educated" to believe that insurance or pharmaceutical companies -- my favorite examples -- are doing business as a helping venture, rather than as a chase for the biggest share of the market.
I wish I could believe that teaching ethics would work.
Posted by: Marilyn Meinke-Murphy at November 2, 2004 11:44 AMI find the articles most helpful.
Posted by: Benedict R. Lucchesi, MD,PhD at June 10, 2005 11:04 PM