Jun
21
When A Big Drug Company Lies
Filed Under Medicine | Leave a Comment
There has been a lot of debate whether or not Vioxx was actually causing more harm than good in the patients that were taking it. When the drug company Merck first pulled the drug off the market the claims were that it was causing people to have strokes. But of course the drug company defended itself saying that these people had pre existing conditions that led to these strokes.
Well if that was the case, then why were doctors prescribing Vioxx to patients that had these pre existing conditions in the first place? Were the doctors presented with all of the facts about Vioxx that they needed before prescribing it? Were the doctors just being irresponsible? Did Merck do something to convince doctors to prescribe the drug anyway? These are questions that we may never know the answers to.
One thing is clear though. Merck recognized that there was a problem so they yanked the drug overnight. And now it appears that this is not all that Merck did. They may also have initiated an internal cover up. In an effort to shield the company some of the power players in the whole Vioxx fiasco were let go. At the same time Merck’s insistence that Vioxx was safe suddenly changed to being safe unless you suffer from this or that. It is just one more example of a big drug company being dishonest and causing harm to consumers.
May
22
I Want My Vioxx Back!
Filed Under Medicine | 2 Comments
If you have been living under a rock or something, maybe you are not familiar with the whole Vioxx debacle. In a nutshell here’s the deal: A big drug company named Merck introduced an anti-inflammatory drug called Vioxx about ten years ago. Unlike many anti-inflammatory drugs however this one did not contain steroids. It was a very ideal drug for people like me who have painful arthritis but don’t want to use drugs that have steroids in them.
And then some people died. A few people suffered from strokes and a few others had heart attacks while on the drug. Did the drug cause this? Were these people predisposed to these maladies because of things like hypertension (high blood pressure)?
Well anyway, Merck reacted to the onslaught of greedy lawyers that were beating down their doors with frivolous lawsuits by pulling the drug off the market. Well I don’t suffer from hypertension. This Vioxx proved to be a miracle drug for me. I’m not saying it was for everyone, but it was for me! I feel bad for the families of people who died, but was Vioxx the sole reason these people died? Really, there were no other factors involved? So now I am back to using the steroids that I don’t want to use.
Apr
24
A Vioxx Repeat?
Filed Under Other - Health | 1 Comment
Raptiva is a drug from the pharmaceutical company Genentech that has recently come under fire. It was first approved several years ago to control the symptoms of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. It is an injectable protein that targets a specific gene that controls the immune system as it related to skin growth. And as with any immunosuppressive drug (drugs that limit the body’s immune system) there are risks involved. Unfortunately a few people were prescribed the drug that already had weakened immune systems. And three of these people got a specific brain virus and ended up dying. That’s three people who should not have been on the drug anyway out of how many people that truly benefitted from the drug? Anyway, Genentech is pulling Raptiva off of the market effective June 1st. 2009.
And this reminds me of the Vioxx fiasco that Merck had a few years back. Now the lawyers are going to hop on this bandwagon for all it is worth. Just like the Vioxx lawsuits, these lawyers will be advertising on TV looking for anyone who was on the drug so they can make money in yet another stupid lawsuit. And who pays for this? We all do because when the pharmaceutical companies get hit in the pocketbook, it trickles down to us consumers!
Mar
20
Vioxx Fiasco Continues
Filed Under Other - News & Events | 5 Comments
Have you heard the latest news about the whole Vioxx fiasco and Merck? Well if you have not been following the debacle, here’s a much simplified overview of what has happened so far as well as the latest update from March 17th, 2009.
Vioxx is an anti-inflammatory drug that was approved by the FDA in 1999. Doctors thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and prescribed it to anyone that they could think to prescribe it to. More than 80 million people were prescribed this so called miracle drug.
But then people started having heart attacks and strokes. Merck quickly took the drug off the market because it was widely recognized that it was causing these serious problems. Many people died.
There were lawsuits of course, but many people were not compensated in any way. So a class action suit arose by plaintiffs who wanted to be reimbursed for their out of pocket expenses that came about because of their Vioxx use. It went to court in New Jersey. But the judge decided not to award the plaintiffs anything because the court thought it would simply be too difficult to administer. Imagine that; the courts siding with the great big drug company instead of siding with the people that got hurt at their hands.
Feb
20
When you think of big drug companies, what image comes to mind? Is it an image of a company that is out to save the world by curing all of the horrible diseases? I don’t think that is the picture that most of us would paint. I think that most of us probably see these companies as examples of corporate greed. These companies make billions and billions of dollars off of their products. And usually if you can not afford their medications then you simply do not have access to the cure.
Well one of these drug companies is a little different in my opinion. Back in the late 1990s a company called Merck gained FDA approval for a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug called Vioxx. This drug was prescribed to millions of arthritis patients worldwide with wonderful results. Unfortunately as the years passed it was realized that this drug may be contributing to heart attacks and strokes.
Did Merck wait for the FDA to step in and do something? No they didn’t! Despite the fact that taking this drug off of the market voluntarily would cost them millions of dollars in profits, they chose to do the right thing. Vioxx was taken off of pharmacy shelves in late 2004 because the executives at the pharmaceutical company that sold it decided to do the right thing.
Jan
31
Can I Still Benefit From My Mom’s Lawsuit?
Filed Under Injuries | 3 Comments
My mom had hired a New York lawyer to help her with her Vioxx litigation case. My sister and I never paid much attention to what she was doing because to be honest, mom is something of a conspiracy theory type, and we figured this was just her latest delusion.
Then two years ago, she got really sick, and no one could tell us why. She kept saying it was because of all the drugs the hospital had given her during her hip replacement surgery 6 months earlier. At first we just kind of ignored it because she is 76 and well, as people get old they get sick right? But as we became more involved with her care, we both came to the conclusion that there might be some validity to her claims. I don’t know if it was Vioxx she was given or something else; seems like every new wonder drug eventually ends up in a lawsuit (fairly or not).
She passed away two weeks ago, and now my sister and I are ready to pick up the fight where she left off, but can we benefit from the lawsuit she started? Or are we acting like modern day ambulance chasers? My husband says I’m reacting out of grief, but am I? I really don’t know.
Jan
25
He Used to be Successful
Filed Under Law & Ethics | 7 Comments
My husband and I met years ago when he was still in law school in upstate New York. He reminded me of a young BIll Clinton: very passionate, caring, and very good with people. People were drawn to him like a magnet.
He was lucky enough that right out of law school, he was a part of a firm that dealt with all of the Vioxx litigation. I don’t know much about the history except from what I understand, it was an effective medicine with horrible side effects. I guess. Anyway, he became one of the more prominent New Yor Vioxx lawyers and was in very high demand.
Over the years however, as the suits have settled, his work has slowed down significantly and he’s really starting to feel it. Actually, we’re all really starting to feel it.
His reputation was based on being the top New York Vioxx lawyer in town, and now that people are focusing on other things, its like he and his firm don’t exist anymore. Isn’t that silly? Like they only understand the law as it applies to Vioxx. Crazy, but they’re not laying people off to adjust for the downturn, and he’s on the short list, I fear.
Dec
27
Become m
Dec
25
Written By: susan_spensley
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