This is a great post in a hairloss forum about PFS. It talks quite eloquently about Merck’s machinations in trying to cover up the truth about the harms of its drugs, with a focus on Vioxx.
<< “ Finasteride was approved by the FDA! It wouldn’t be sold if it wasn’t reasonably safe "
Approval by the FDA should mean that the substance in question is reasonably safe for use in the wider population. Sadly, despite FDA approval, many drugs have had to be subsequently withdrawn from the market after wider use showed severe consequences which were not adequately assessed or communicated by the very institution that was supposed to protect the public from such outcomes. Take another Merck (makers of propecia) drug, Vioxx, which was approved by the FDA. Withdrawn from the market after five years, it caused approximately 100000 heart attacks and thousands of deaths. The revelations that resulted from the ensuing scrutiny offer a chilling insight into the machinations of a pharmaceutical company that nakedly prized its profit margin above its duty not to harm its consumers. It also exposed the FDA’s rank inadequacies in preventing such a tragedy from happening in the first place.
“Merck Manipulated the Science about the Drug Vioxx”
Scientists from the pharmaceutical giant Merck skewed the results of clinical trials in favor of the arthritis drug, Vioxx, to hide evidence that the drug increased patients’ risk of heart attack.
Tragically, Merck’s manipulation of its data—and the FDA’s resulting approval of Vioxx in 1999—led to thousands of avoidable premature deaths and 100,000 heart attacks. Dr. David Graham, the Associate Director for Science and Medicine in FDA’s Office of Drug Safety, testified in 2004 before the Senate Finance Committee that the FDA’s failure to recall Vioxx earlier had resulted in as many as 55,000 premature deaths from heart attacks and stroke, calling it the equivalent of allowing “two to four jumbo jetliners” to crash every week for five years. Even years after discontinuing use of the drug, patients who have taken Vioxx continue to experience complications.
“Drug giant Merck accused of deaths cover-up”
When a study suggested that Vioxx was more dangerous than a rival drug, for example, the company is alleged to have decided not to publish the results or properly inform the FDA.
Egilman says the documents also contain an email in which a Merck employee tells a co-worker that “this is a very serious result and you will hardly be surprised by the idea of keeping this VERY TIGHT for the moment”.
https://www.news.com.au/news/drug-c…6c8559abf?sv=1f029b17d33bdbde184dbc4c4fed7126
“Vioxx maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list”
An international drug company made a hit list of doctors who had to be “neutralised” or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced.
The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words “neutralise”, “neutralised” or “discredit” against some of the doctors’ names.
“We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live,” a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court by Julian Burnside QC, acting for the plaintiff.
“Merck Agrees to Settle Vioxx Suits for $4.85 Billion”
Three years after withdrawing its pain medication Vioxx from the market, Merck has agreed to pay $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits by people who claim they or their family members suffered injury or died after taking the drug, according to two lawyers with direct knowledge of the matter.
https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/Doctor/111804dgtest.pdf
FDA scientist Dr David Graham stated in testimony before congress regarding Vioxx “what may be the single greatest drug safety catastrophe in the history of this country or the history of the world. We are talking about a catastrophe that I strongly believe could have, should have been largely or completely avoided. But it wasn’t, and over 100,000 Americans have paid dearly for this failure. In my opinion, the FDA has let the American people down, and sadly, betrayed a public trust. I believe there are at least 3 broad categories of systemic problems that contributed to the Vioxx catastrophe and to a long line of other drug safety failures in the past 10 years. Briefly, these categories are 1) organizational/structural, 2) cultural, and 3) scientific.”>>