Drug corporation Merck accused of deaths cover-up

This video from the USA is called Prescription drug Reaction to Cipro and Vioxx.

From New Scientist:

Drug giant Merck accused of deaths cover-up

* 21:00 15 April 2008
* NewScientist.com news service
* Jim Giles

It is perhaps the biggest drug scandal of recent years. Before Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004, the popular painkiller was linked to heart attacks in tens of thousands of people. Now researchers have alleged that Merck knew of the dangers years earlier, but tweaked statistics and hid data so that regulators remained in the dark.

Vioxx was a blockbuster drug for Merck in the 5 years it was on the market, generating billions of dollars in revenue. After it was linked to heart attacks and strokes, the firm pulled its product, and earlier this year Merck agreed to provide almost US$5 billion in compensation to those claiming to have been harmed.

But an analysis of documents released during the litigation process that led to that settlement, carried out by Richard Kronmal, a statistician at the University of Washington, Seattle, who acted as an expert witness in the Merck lawsuits, suggests that company scientists were aware of the problems well before 2004.

Pharmaceutical conglomerates Merck and GlaxoSmithKline have won contracts to supply some of the world’s poorest countries with cancer vaccines: here.

From Feminist Daily News in the USA:

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit this week against an Austin-based company and its owners, Brian McDonald and Aaron Bouren, for selling fraudulent healthcare discount cards to uninsured pregnant women. According to the Attorney General’s news release, the company, Affordable HealthCare Options (AHCO Direct), sold a health discount card that promised to cover up to 60 percent of maternity-related costs, such as doctor’s visits, sonograms, prescriptions and other prenatal care, stating that it would be accepted by a large number of healthcare providers.

However, the card was not accepted by even the company’s own AHCO Direct preferred providers.

More Bad Press for Nestlé in their Quest to Pilfer Spring Water: here.

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• Vioxx Personal Injury Lawsuits (leccoworkshop.com)
• Merck & Co., Its Past and Present (fosamaxfracturelawsuit.typepad.com)
• Vaccine Danger: Merck is Big Pharma’s Monsanto (johnniesblog.wordpress.com)
• War On Health (ppjg.me)
• Merck & Co., Inc. to Cut Research Jobs as Sets Direction (biospace.com)
• Merck Stock: Not a Safe Pick for Dividend Investors (fool.com)