Merck accused of stonewalling in mumps vaccine antitrust lawsuit

Thu Jun 4, 2015 10:06am EDT

By Brendan Pierson

Two former Merck & Co Inc scientists accusing the drugmaker of falsifying tests of its exclusive mumps vaccine said in a court filing on Monday that Merck is refusing to respond to questions about the efficacy of the vaccine.

Attorneys at Constantine Cannon, who represent the scientists, asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Lynne Sitarski of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to compel Merck to respond to their discovery request, which asks the company to give the efficacy of the vaccine as a percentage.

Instead of answering the question, the letter said, Merck has been consistently evasive, using "cut-and-paste" answers saying it cannot run a new clinical trial to determine the current efficacy, and providing only data from 50 years ago.

"Merck should not be permitted to raise as one of its principal defenses that its vaccine has a high efficacy, which is accurately represented on the product's label, but then refuse to answer what it claims that efficacy actually is," the letter said.

A representative of Merck could not immediately be reached for comment.

The two scientists, Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, filed their whistleblower lawsuit in 2010 claiming Merck, the only company licensed by the Food and Drug Administration to sell a mumps vaccine in the United States, skewed tests of the vaccine by adding animal antibodies to blood samples.

As a result, they said, Merck was able to produce test results showing that the vaccine was 95 percent effective, even though more accurate tests would have shown a lower success rate. The plaintiffs said these false results kept competitors from trying to produce their own mumps vaccines, since they were unable to match the effectiveness Merck claimed.
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www.reuters.com...

Who would have thought that Merck would try to stonewall an investigation into the real efficacy of their mumps vaccine? right?

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

There is scientific malfeasance, there is statistical manipulation and then there is outright criminal fraud.

This case is absolutely criminal.


On the other hand, finding a 300% increase in autism in African American Children during a MMR2 vaccine test and selectively purging the samples to completely remove it is just scientific malfeasance, I guess.

Statement of Wiliam H. Thompson, PhD

Can't wait for the apologists and operatives to drop in.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Not 100% effective?
hmmm, maybe thats why they fear those who rely on their natural immunity, because the naturaly immune cant catch it, while the vaccinated can!

a reply to: VoidHawk

They claim their mumps vaccine is 95% effective, and the former Merck scientists who became whistleblowers are saying this is not true. Merck rigged the results to make it look like their vaccines is 95% effective when it isn't. They don't want to release the real results. You have got to wonder why.

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reply to: InverseLookingGlass
Can't wait for the apologists and operatives to drop in. 

I wonder how prevalent this tactic of adding animal antibodies (or other such outside comtaminates) is used industry-wide to boost or massage the "target" numbers???

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Do you people realise how far DNA technology has gone

They could with vaccines start altering human DNA, impact how you think, shorten your life

All kinds of things