Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative…what a catchy old song!
And apparently, about 140 claimants could just imagine the execs at Merck and Schering-Plough humming along, as they buried (for about two years) an unfavorable study that showed the companies’ jointly marketed cholesterol drugs, Vytorin and Zetia “were no more effective in unclogging arteries than a pre-existing and less expensive cholesterol treatment[s].”
That’s right civil justice fans, in yet another story about drug companies accused of burying unfavorable (i.e., bad for profits) test results, Merck and Schering-Plough have agreed to a $41.5 million settlement (without admitting any wrongdoing), resolving 140 claims brought by insurers and consumers “who bought, used, or paid money toward the purchase of Vytorin and Zetia.”
While the settlement doesn’t come close to the $5 billion Merck paid out to settle suits involving its infamous arthritis painkiller Vioxx, it does come on the heels of a $5.4 million settlement with “attorneys general of 35 states and the District of Columbia for costs incurred in investigating consumer-protection cases involving” Vytorin and Zetia.
Meanwhile, the companies have also settled separate suits from shareholders opposed to the two companies’ planned $41.1 billion merger.
Ah well, the merger, if and when it happens, will make the new company (under the “Merck” name) the second-largest drug maker (in the second-largest money-making industry)—so company big-wigs will still have plenty to hum about. Let’s just hope it isn’t at the expense of the public’s safety.
Here is more information on the class action settlement reached involving the makers of Vytorin and Zetia: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/10248#more-10248
Posted by: Joshua | August 07, 2009 at 12:29 PM