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We Will All Benefit from the New Vioxx Settlement

By Joe Consumer

You rember Vioxx right?  That multi-billion dollar blockbuster arthritis painkiller that received ?fast-track? approval by the FDA, which the company (and the FDA, it turns out) knew greatly increased the risk of heart attack or stroke, and ultimately killed or severely injured tens of thousands? The drug manufactured by Merck, which downplayed what it knew for years, deciding that it was worth continuing to risk killing and injuring Americans, rather than pull the profit-making drug off the market? The kind of manufacturer that House Minority Leader John Boehner  would like to immunize from lawsuits as part of his health care ?medical malpractice? tort reform proposal?  Yup, that Vioxx.

We?ve written before about how ?lawsuits played a key role unearthing documents showing what lengths Merck went to cover up mounting evidence that patients taking Vioxx were experiencing a high number of heart attacks and strokes.?

Turns out victims weren?t the only angry party here.  Merck shareholders have been fumin' mad.  Yesterday, the company agreed to settle some of the shareholder lawsuits ? the derivative suits ?brought on behalf of the company, against the company?s own officers.?

And as part of this settlement (still awaiting court approval), Merck agreed to ?appoint one committee to address risks that require immediate action and another to monitor the safety of drugs? and ?amend its code of conduct to promote scientific and academic integrity as well ?honest communication? with doctors."

This means that ?Merck will have to report on drugs it's testing - including all study results - on the federal clinical trials registry, on its own Web site and in major medical journals, so safety issues should become public faster.?

Litigation, once again, comes to the rescue!

Full post as published by ThePopTort on February 11, 2010 (boomark / email).