As is often the case these days, whether you are talking about corporate greed or war crimes, it is hardly ever the leaders and managers who are held accountable. The same is true in this case for Merck, which has paid $21 million for an outside investigation that "largely exonerated the drug maker's management of any wrongdoing in developing and marketing the painkiller Vioxx, citing much of the same evidence that critics say shows Merck acted irresponsibly" (see WSJ: "Merck Vioxx Probe Clears Officials Board-Ordered Report Says").
[You can download the full report (large pdf file; 183 pages here.]
"[The] investigation found that some of Merck's sales tactics were overly aggressive, but it pinned the blame on individual employees and said upper management was either not aware of or didn't condone those practices."Where have I heard that defense before?
"One of [these practices] involved 'neutralizing' physicians that sales representatives had identified as 'anti-Vioxx' or 'anti-Merck' with payments, support for their clinical studies, trips to "elegant" locations such as New York or Hawaii, and medical-school grants. The report says these were merely recommendations and there is no evidence they were ever acted upon."No evidence. That's all right then. Seems to me when my boss makes a recommendation, I better do something in line with that "recommendation" if I want to keep my job.
"The report also noted that a promotional aid called 'the Cardiovascular Card' used by Merck sales representatives to pitch Vioxx to doctors didn't include data from a 2000 clinical trial that showed a higher incidence of heart attacks and strokes among patients who took Vioxx. But it excused this by saying that Merck provided a separate letter describing that trial to doctors who asked about it."Back in May, 2005, I posted information about the "Cardiovascular Card" and examined one of Merck's internal documents related to how sales reps were trained to side-step the cardiovascular issue (see "Get a Load of Those Gams!"). I guess training comes under the heading "mere recommendation."
The report also says:
"On the basis of our exhaustive review of the record, we have concluded that, prior to receipt of the APPROVe Trial cardiovascular results, none of the senior scientists at MRL [Merck Research Laboratories] believed that Vioxx was prothrombotic. Indeed, we were told by numerous witnesses, including [former research chief] Dr. Scolnick, [research chief] Dr. Kim and [former CEO] Mr. Gilmartin, that they, or their family members, were taking Vioxx up until the day that it was withdrawn from the market."It seems that this investigation is based wholly on hearsay evidence like the above. Statements by Merck's upper management were just accepted at face value without any independent verification.
Merck's actions in the months and even years prior to the "voluntary" withdrawal of Vioxx from the market has come under scrutiny not because any laws were broken, but because these alleged "obstructionist" actions violate a tenet of former CEO George W. Merck who said: "We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. Not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear."
What Do You Think?
Here are links to more posts related to Merck's Vioxx woes:
- Vioxx Scorecard: 5-3-14192
- Merck Misled FDA According to NJ Jury
- Merck's Hand in the Cookie Jar
- Get a Load of Those Gams!
- Saving Public Merck
- Merck Changes Tactics, Lawyers Too
- Merck science "like wah, wah, wah"
- Merck Found Negligent!
- John Mack Rebuffs MerckÂ’s CEO Offer
- Who Should Pay for Merck's Obstructionism?
OK John, I almost always agree with you, but this time I have to disagree with some of your statements and position.
ReplyDeleteYes, clearly someone blew it and should pay a price. However, with every passing week, I am more and more convinced that what Merck did was NOT so egregious as to almost spell the collapse of that company. I have been in the industry a long time and always saw them driving on the high road to a fault. They missed so many opportunities by not being as aggressive as others.
With every passing week, I also see the worst of our legal system with the ambulance-chasing lawyers salivating at a piece of the pie. The lies they tell; the patients they make up; the threats they make -- sounds like extortion to this lay mind. I am sickened to hear how they put a bunch of ignorant jurors in charge of deciding these tough questions. I sure hope I am never charged with anything and have to put my life in a jury's hands.
Frankly, I am tired of hearing about Vioxx. Is this going to go the way pf phen-phen? We no longer hear much about that one.
Make the few who apparently made bad decisions pay. But stop flushing the rest of that company down the drain. There are good people there and I am sure they don't deserve the shots.
Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if you read what I have said all along, I am not "flushing the company down the drain." I am calling for its leaders to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY instead of letting this drag on forever.
I also lament how long the Vioxx case has kept Merck in the spot light. It has no one but itself to blame because of its decision to try every case on its merits rather than take some alternative course and put it all behind them. One of my previous posts estimated how long it would take for Merck to try all these cases and how MUC RESOURCES it will divert to that purpose.
All because a few leaders won't fess up, admit guilt, settle up and move on.
Perhpas that is even a more disasterous course, I don't know.
But every case is different. Settling all those fake cases in a bug class action would only go to make the ambulance chasers happy and rich...and they will have got away with extortion one more time.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I think that the door closes on any new lawsuits this fall. until it's closed, they cannot settle because it would just attract more cases. This way, the flood stops, they get rid of a few sample cases that can kill several thousand of the same type -- and the they can settle and put this nightmare behind them.