Kevin O’Malley ended the hunger strike on 05/29/2012. He got the attention of some media during the protest. Merck did not comment, but the company asked the police several times to remove him from the area. However, hunger strike is a legal form of protest in the U.S. and the police could not do anything.
A 30 year old man, who claims his life was destroyed after taking Propecia for hair loss, initiated a hunger strike in front of the pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme headquarters in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
Kevin Malley (baseball hat, pictured), a former public health researcher, flew to New Jersey on May 10th and has not eaten since the 13th.
He says it is a protest at the failure of Merck to recognize Propecia’s role as the cause of persistent and devastating sexual side effects, which don’t cease after stopping the medication.
“I want to see Merck step up to the plate. Its medicine is destroying lives, and i know that I am only one of thousands of victims worldwide who are suffering” - said Malley.
Parents of another Propecia victim, the emergency physician John Santmann (pictured), and the cardiologist and medical malpractice attorney Rosemary McGeady (pictured), joined Kevin Malley in the protest. Their son, Randy Santmann, committed suicide in 2008, alleging persistent effects from Propecia which he could not live with.