Oh what fun it is to cover Big Pharma. First we get the Wall Street Journal crediting Peter Rost and BrandweekNRX for breaking an insider trading scandal at Schering-Plough.
Then we get Merck and Schering-Plough pulling their popular “two sources of cholesterol” commercials from television because Vytorin apparently does not reduce the buildup of fatty […]

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From the Daily Dog:
The state and city of New York filed suit this week against Merck, claiming the drugmaker concealed the risks of the withdrawn arthritis treatment Vioxx. The lawsuit seeks damages, penalties and restitution for “tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wrongfully spent on Vioxx prescriptions,” the office of New York State Attorney General […]

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What a nice, heart-healthy gift from the Merck rep, via On the Pharm.

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Remember the little problem with Vioxx? As a result, Vioxx still has more than 13,800 lawsuits on the docket. Over the last two years, only four trials have been held, but Judge Carol Higbee is looking to pick up the pace — from glacier slow to snail-in-winter slow. Higbee’s goal, according to Pharmalot, is […]

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From Reuters:
Brazil’s president is to decide whether his country will honor Merck & Co’s AIDS drug patent, after the health ministry rejected the company’s price-cut. “We consider the offer insufficient and we told the manufacturer,” Brazil’s health minister, Jose Temporao, told Reuters on Thursday. “The decision (on whether to break the patent) is now […]

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Besides the unexpected public outcry, there may have been another reason why Merck curtailed its lobbying efforts to make Gardasil mandatory for teens.
The stuff may not even work very well.
From GoozNews:
The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story today questioning the efficacy of Merck’s new cervical cancer vaccine. The story covers all the key […]

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Yesterday, an FDA panel voted 20 to 1 not to approve Arcoxia for osteoarthritis. Why such an overwhelming number?
Apparently, Arcoxia failed to prove that it served an unmet need. According to Merrill Goozner, Merck took some pretty poor evidence with them to the trial.
Merck stepped forward with an extremely weak set of data. […]

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From the Chicago Tribune:
Given the option of living with pain or an increased heart attack risk, some Baby Boomers are assuming the risk and going back to a drug still considered potentially dangerous by the government. Two years after Vioxx and other powerful arthritis pain fighters were linked to cardiovascular trouble, there is a […]

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From The Washington Post:
Texas lawmakers are fighting to block the governor’s order requiring that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, with the House giving key approval to a bill to make the shots strictly voluntary.
Gov. Rick Perry’s executive order has inflamed conservatives who say it contradicts Texas’ abstinence-only sexual […]

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Bloomberg reported last week that Merck & Co. will stop lobbying state officials to require girls receive the Gardasil vaccine:
Merck made the decision after groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics said there wasn’t enough state funding to pay for the $360 vaccine or public acceptance … Texas this month became the first state, […]

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