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Merck's Vioxx scandal widens: Drug maker knew Vioxx was deadly
for years before risk was made public
Mike Adams
NaturalNews
Wednesday, Nov 25th, 2009
The Vioxx scandal widened this week as new research
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that
Vioxx maker Merck held data for three years that proved Vioxx
caused an alarming increase in the risk of heart attacks and
strokes. And yet Merck chose not to release that data. In fact,
it took three more years of patients dying from heart attacks
before Vioxx was pulled off the market, and even then, Merck
insisted the drug was not dangerous.
This new study was based on a meta-analysis of several unpublished
studies that Merck obviously didn't want to see published in
medical journals. Drug companies routinely engage in this subterfuge:
They cherry-pick which studies they want published while burying
the rest. They also choose which studies to forward to the FDA,
all while claiming the whole charade is based on "evidence-based
medicine."
It is, sort of. If you add the word "selective" in
front of the phrase, making it: "Selective evidence-based
medicine."
So how were the authors of this new study able to find these
unpublished studies that Merck would much prefer remained hidden?
They were disclosed in court proceedings against Merck. So many
people were harmed by Vioxx, you see, that some of them decided
to sue. And in that legal process, many "secret" studies
were revealed. Some smart-minded researchers decided to analyze
the data in those studies and that's what reveals Merck knew
Vioxx raised the risk of heart-related side effects by 35 percent
and yet did nothing to warn the public about those risks.
In essence, these documents prove that Merck knowingly and
maliciously allowed a deadly drug to continue to be sold to
patients for years. It's a clear case of profits before patients
from a drug company mired in one scandal after another. (Merck
is also the maker of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine.)
In its defense, Merck says its own scientists couldn't find
any link between Vioxx and heart attack deaths. Understandably,
it's difficult to find anything when your profits depend on
not finding it.
The Merck conspiracy
Now that this data is public, it reveals that Merck's executives
and / or employees were engaged in a conspiracy to withhold
important drug safety data from the public and the FDA. The
aim of this conspiracy was simple: To maximize profits through
the sale of a product they knew was killing people.
Of course, only the naive are surprised to hear this. Informed
NaturalNews readers already know this is the default behavior
of drug companies. They'll do anything to make a buck, including
fabricating clinical trial data, withholding important evidence,
misrepresenting their drugs in television ads and lobbying lawmakers
to make their drugs mandatory. The idea that they would knowingly
sell a deadly drug to the general public -- while sitting on
data for years that proved the drug was dangerous -- isn't really
surprising. Not once you know how the pharmaceutical industry
really works, anyway.
Many people (and many states) are fed up with the criminal
behavior of drug companies. Nearly 10,000 individuals filed
personal injury lawsuits against Merck over the Vioxx scandal.
Most were settled for $4.85 billion in 2007, but many lawsuits
remain. Eleven states' Attorneys General have also filed lawsuits
against Merck, alleging the company committed fraud in its marketing
of the drug to state Medicaid programs. Those lawsuits have
yet to be resolved.
More legal action against Merck is no doubt on the way, as
the company has engaged in questionable marketing practices
spanning many different drugs (not just Vioxx). Drug companies
like Merck have operated in the shadows for years, hiding data
they knew would be damaging to their profits. These actions
no doubt resulted in the needless deaths of tens of thousands
of health consumers who would likely be alive today if this
hidden data had been made public in 2001 when it was first known
by Merck.
Merck's actions fit the legal definition of "negligent
homicide." By withholding this important information, Merck
indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of people. And yet
somehow Merck's executives and employees are literally "getting
away with murder" as there are no efforts under way to
prosecute these people for their crimes.
I have to ask the obvious question: Why aren't Merck's executives
being arrested and hauled off to prison for prosecution? If
this were a Wall Street scandal, you'd see the head honchos
in handcuffs, paraded on videos blasted across the evening news.
But when it comes to pharmaceuticals, it's just business as
usual. No one is held accountable. All those dead Americans
essentially have their graves spit on by the failed justice
system in this country that allows murderous corporations to
continue killing more people with their deadly products.
The reason for all this is simple: America values money more
than it values lives. When peoples' investments are destroyed,
that's a crime. But when peoples' lives are destroyed by a dangerous
pharmaceutical product, that's nobody's fault. Accountability
is non-existent.
It sure puts America's priorities into perspective, doesn't
it? Public safety has been all but abandoned by the FDA and
the pharmaceutical industry -- an industry ruled by nothing
other than the almighty dollar. And yet, here's something that
puts it all into yet more perspective: According to Congressional
testimony about Vioxx from drug safety experts, Vioxx alone
killed more Americans than the entire Vietnam War.
Is that something worth investigating for potential prosecution?
If you value human life, then yes, absolutely. So why do Merck's
executives all seem to be immune to the law? Why is the Department
of Justice too timid to go after one of the most dangerous organizations
in the country that has killed many times more Americans than
all terrorists combined?
Why isn't Merck on the FBI's "America's Most Wanted"
list?
And why do the American people tolerate such corporate behavior
on their own soil? Is killing people with chemicals any less
serious than killing people with bullets? Imagine the public
outcry if a car company sold a defective vehicle that resulted
in the deaths of more than 60,000 people... that would be shocking
headline news. But when it comes to pharmaceutical deaths, the
people remain strangely silent.
And the reason? There's no video footage of people dying. Pharmaceutical
deaths are silent, whimpering deaths. No fiery crashes. No flying
body parts. No explosions to splash across the evening news.
Just millions of people being individually and chemically snuffed
out, all around the world, after taking patented prescription
drugs sold by companies that lied to them about their safety.
"When the people find they can vote themselves
money, that will herald the end of the republic."
- Fall Of The Republic - Buy
the DVD here
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