Being a member slave of the pharma industry, i have a unique standpoint when it comes to issues such as this.
Vioxx was recently withdrawn by MSD (meck sharpe and dhome)due to increased rick of cardiac failiure in long term users.
many users, however saw this as an acceptable risk, especially when compared to the ain of arthritis.
Being that it was prescribed so widely, especially in the US, and that there are many billions in litigation i was wondering if anyone knows/has relatives who are affected by this.
Also, is the “cozy” relationship between government authorities, and large pharma as complicit as was recently made out.
What could be done about things such as these…is advertising to the public still allowed in the US. I know they were talking about stopping it but i have no idea what happened since i last heard.
And could this spill over to things like rittilin (dubious skeptic as to need myself)?
Are we about to see a backlash, or are the monies these firms are worth and therefore the stability to stock markets a greater need??
I think there’s no problem with the sale of a product like Vioxx, but I do think that known risks should be disclosed. If there’s any problem I see with what’s been alleged – and I admit to not having followed the story particularly closely – it’s in the idea that the companies knew of the risk but didn’t tell anyone.
I thought that there was some mention of risk in the lable? Of course reading one of those things almost requires a degree in toxicology.
As far as the FDA being in the pocket of large pharma…I dont really think that is the case. I use to work for a fairly large >12 billion/yr sales pharma company and I swear that the FDA had their own offices there to conduct their audits. I do think that there is tremendous pressure to get drugs approved faster and that does affect the long term studies.
The senators and house of representatives are the ones that big pharma owns. Of course they are the ones that are responsible for funding the FDA so in a round-a-bout back handed way yeah. But it’s the same for any large industry.