Originating from Saint Paul, MN, Doctor Pundit is all about the intersection between healthcare policy, science, politics, and all surrounding points and issues. Although the entire scope of healthcare delivery and policy is much too encompassing for just one blogger to cover, I'll try my best. Enjoy! From time to time, you'll also see other items of interest that probably have nothing to do with health policy in the least. Try and keep an open mind. :) Proprietor & Editor -- Michael Douglas, MD, MBATag Archives for Merck
Pharma Company to Pay Over $900M from Vioxx Marketing Practices
The DOJ decision has been handed down. Merck Co. will pay $321.6 million in criminal fines and $628.4 million as a civil settlement agreement. It also will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge stemming from the premature marketing of the … Continue reading
Lessons from Vioxx News Offers Potential for Tighter Drug Data Surveillance
With the recent story of Vioxx — and its potentially troublesome adverse effects possibly being known to its pharma company before initial launch — hitting the wires yesterday, there is renewed concern of the process by which study results, both … Continue reading
Study: Vioxx Risk of Death Known Almost Three Years Before Market Withdrawal
Pharma company Merck withdrew the popular anti-inflammatory agent Vioxx (rofecoxib) from the marketplace in 2004 for increased risk of death due to adverse cardiovascular events, including death. This followed testimony from that company’s CEO before a committee in the Senate … Continue reading
Pharma Company Stands Behind Drug in Face of Potential Negative Sales Impact from Latest Study
How can a drug’s study results involving just over 200 or so participants shake up healthcare policy? If the name of that drug is Zetia, there’s already enough political baggage that is making that happen. Statements like the following from … Continue reading
Pharma Company Creates Fake Peer-Reviewed Journal
Pharma giant Merck created a completely bogus medical journal creatively entitled the Australian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine to publish data favorable to its products. This really comes as no surprise at the hands of a pharma company whose … Continue reading
Performance-Based Drug Contracts: A Good Fit for Pharma and Health Insurers?
It’s a marriage of self interests among Pharma and Big Insurance. Merck and Cigna just announced a partnership which involves the applications of drug discounts from the pharma company as a benefit to the healthcare payer if patients “perform” well … Continue reading
Tuesday Newswire: An FDA Smorgasbord
Apparently not much is being done to to force fiduciary relationships between pharma companies and the physicians who study and test devices on their patients as subjects. A report [PDF] commissioned by the HHS Dept. confirms the findings. FT Editorial: … Continue reading
