Vioxx Study Used Ghostwriters paid by Merck?
So you thought all those Vioxx studies in medical journals were independent, hands-off affairs? Not necesssarily. An examination of medical journal articles about Vioxx and court documents from Vioxx lawsuits found that Merck employees or ghostwriters were frequently involved in various articles, but the primary authors were often academics who actually had little to do [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )JAMA questions Vioxx publishing practices
This seriously challenges the relationship between physicians and drug companies. This again reinforces the need for physicians to rely more on generic medications in place of name brand medicines not only to keep healthcare costs down but for also for patient safety.
JAMA lambastes Vioxx publishing practices
Ben Comer
April 17 2008
The Journal of the American Medical Association [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Merck to Pay $670 Million for Medicaid Fraud
The drugmaker failed to pay the appropriate rebates to Medicaid and other goverment health care programs, and also paid kickbacks to doctors and hospitals to induce them to prescribe various meds. The allegations were brought in two separate lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act. Merck has also agreed to a Corporate Integrity [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Are cholesterol medicines even helpful?
Martin Winn’s cholesterol level was inching up. Cycling up hills, he felt chest pain that might have been angina. So he and his doctor decided he should be on a cholesterol-lowering medication called a statin. He was in good company. Such drugs are the best-selling medicines in history, used by more than 13 million Americans [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Merck wants to have cholesterol medicine sold over the counter–
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON - The government is questioning if too many of the wrong people will take cholesterol-lowering Mevacor if it’s sold without a prescription, days before Merck & Co. makes its third try to move the drug over the counter.
Merck says selling a low dose of this long-used medication [...]
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