Vioxx Scandal Continues 4 years Later; Bush Politicized FDA Not Doing Its Job Again
The Vioxx scandal, that may have caused thousands of deaths and was reported in 2004, just keeps on rolling along four years later.
Merck & Co Inc suppressed evidence that its withdrawn arthritis pill Vioxx could harm patients, U.S. researchers charged on Tuesday.
"An analysis of court documents suggests Merck knew about the problems years before it acted, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association
"They charge that Merck failed to disclose an internal analysis that found Alzheimer's patients taking Vioxx had a three times greater risk of death than patients taking a placebo.
" 'This is a major, serious safety signal,' said Dr. Bruce Psaty of the University of Washington in Seattle, whose study compared internal Merck documents with data submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and published research.
" 'If these findings had been reported publicly in April of 2001, it is likely that many fewer patients would have chosen to use Vioxx and probably many fewer would have been injured,' Psaty said in a telephone interview.
"More than 20 million people in the United States took Vioxx before it was withdrawn.
"Psaty said patients were harmed because of Merck's hesitation.
"The company said it provided complete mortality data from the Alzheimer's studies to the FDA.
"An FDA spokeswoman said the agency did not have any specific comment but said it would evaluate the issues raised by the journal on Vioxx.
Might not what Merck did possibly be considered a crime?
I've written many times about the Bush politicized FDA and its many failures to protect the American public including this,
"More great news about Bush's politicized FDA. Just like all his other government departments and agencies, such as, under King George, the misnamed Consumer Products Safety Commission's failure to protect our children from lead toys, the FDA fails to do the job for which it was created: to regulate food and medicines.
"Because regulation of corporate entities and their products is anathema to the Bush administration, American consumers suffer, literally."
Chris at AmericaBlog also weighs in about this recent continuation of the Vioxx scandal: "It's hard not to pass on at least some of the blame to the Bush administration and GOP who have systematically cut funding and resources to the bone. In addition, they've also made it a point to let industry "self regulate" instead of providing the oversight that Americans want and need. People expect business to get away with whatever they can and yes, they do exactly that. Even if information was passed to the FDA it's hard to see them even giving a damn because that might slow business. Merck is in a world of trouble but the Bush-FDA is certainly not looking very competent either. For all of the talk about how precious human life is by the GOP they sure don't treat it that way in the Bush-FDA."
How many times must the American people be put in danger by this rotten Bush administration?
And impeachment is still off the table.
Merck & Co Inc suppressed evidence that its withdrawn arthritis pill Vioxx could harm patients, U.S. researchers charged on Tuesday.
"An analysis of court documents suggests Merck knew about the problems years before it acted, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association
"They charge that Merck failed to disclose an internal analysis that found Alzheimer's patients taking Vioxx had a three times greater risk of death than patients taking a placebo.
" 'This is a major, serious safety signal,' said Dr. Bruce Psaty of the University of Washington in Seattle, whose study compared internal Merck documents with data submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and published research.
" 'If these findings had been reported publicly in April of 2001, it is likely that many fewer patients would have chosen to use Vioxx and probably many fewer would have been injured,' Psaty said in a telephone interview.
"More than 20 million people in the United States took Vioxx before it was withdrawn.
"Psaty said patients were harmed because of Merck's hesitation.
"The company said it provided complete mortality data from the Alzheimer's studies to the FDA.
"An FDA spokeswoman said the agency did not have any specific comment but said it would evaluate the issues raised by the journal on Vioxx.
Might not what Merck did possibly be considered a crime?
I've written many times about the Bush politicized FDA and its many failures to protect the American public including this,
"More great news about Bush's politicized FDA. Just like all his other government departments and agencies, such as, under King George, the misnamed Consumer Products Safety Commission's failure to protect our children from lead toys, the FDA fails to do the job for which it was created: to regulate food and medicines.
"Because regulation of corporate entities and their products is anathema to the Bush administration, American consumers suffer, literally."
Chris at AmericaBlog also weighs in about this recent continuation of the Vioxx scandal: "It's hard not to pass on at least some of the blame to the Bush administration and GOP who have systematically cut funding and resources to the bone. In addition, they've also made it a point to let industry "self regulate" instead of providing the oversight that Americans want and need. People expect business to get away with whatever they can and yes, they do exactly that. Even if information was passed to the FDA it's hard to see them even giving a damn because that might slow business. Merck is in a world of trouble but the Bush-FDA is certainly not looking very competent either. For all of the talk about how precious human life is by the GOP they sure don't treat it that way in the Bush-FDA."
How many times must the American people be put in danger by this rotten Bush administration?
And impeachment is still off the table.
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