ATS: Merck and Vioxx: A Twisted Tale of Cover-ups, Pork and Profits

Thanks for the Nexia update soficrow,they really are like a real modern day Dr. Moreau.I think the military will stop at nothing to get their VX antidote,even with the present absence of an impending chemical attack.My main concern would be these transgenic goats being potentially mishandled by mix-up,escaping, or accidentally introduced into the normal goat population,forever contaminating the species with its genetic mutations and the repercussions it could lead to regarding the health-risks of consumers of their milk & cheese.

Also the clinical development program being regulated under the FDA's Animal Efficacy Rule.If we can't trust them to alert fellow humans to potential dangers of drugs,we certainly can't expect them to institute proper regulation or monitoring of animals.


Great find soficrow, as always - really learned a lot today

Originally posted by Vajrayana
Thanks for the Nexia update soficrow,they really are like a real modern day Dr. Moreau.I think the military will stop at nothing to get their VX antidote,even with the present absence of an impending chemical attack.My main concern would be these transgenic goats being potentially mishandled by mix-up,escaping, or accidentally introduced into the normal goat population,forever contaminating the species with its genetic mutations and the repercussions it could lead to regarding the health-risks of consumers of their milk & cheese.

Also the clinical development program being regulated under the FDA's Animal Efficacy Rule.If we can't trust them to alert fellow humans to potential dangers of drugs,we certainly can't expect them to institute proper regulation or monitoring of animals.

Excellent point. ...but I do think the same concerns apply to all biotech - eg. with Protexia we're talking recombinant human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). ...Most biotechnology products carry a danger of 'mixing' with natural proteins, altering genetic structures etc. ...Protexia's risks go beyond the now normal dangers of untested drugs - and into the realm of biotech - IMO, just as bad as the goat thing. ....And all this is happening without any monitoring or oversight.


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Protexia's risks go beyond the now normal dangers of untested drugs - and into the realm of biotech - IMO, just as bad as the goat thing. ....And all this is happening without any monitoring or oversight.

I most certainly agree,biotech definitely has been tinkering with pandora's box - getting bolder by the day.I have a close friend getting his phd in bioinfomatics who is heavily involved in genomic research.A few years ago I attended a lecture given by Daniel Botstein about the future of genomics.A lot of the discussion was centered around pathogenicity,encoded transcriptase/reverse transcriptase,pria,archea,cancer,marburg & ebola viruses,etc. but some of the methods being proposed & discussed certainly required an ethics-free approach.

I'm always on the lookout for identifying any poison-the-many to cure-the-chosen-few supporters and they certainly can be found lurking in the publish-hungry grant-driven realm of biotech.




[edit on 15-2-2005 by Vajrayana]

Originally posted by Vajrayana

biotech definitely has been tinkering with pandora's box - getting bolder by the day....A few years ago I attended a lecture given by Daniel Botstein about the future of genomics.A lot of the discussion was centered around pathogenicity,encoded transcriptase/reverse transcriptase,pria,archea,cancer,marburg & ebola viruses,etc. but some of the methods being proposed & discussed certainly required an ethics-free approach.

I'm always on the lookout for identifying any poison-the-many to cure-the-chosen-few supporters and they certainly can be found lurking in the publish-hungry grant-driven realm of biotech.

Unfortunately, it all happens in the invisible realm - and no one can see it. We're certainly seeing results throughout society already - 1 in 2 American men will get cancer, 1 in 3 women - might be more now, I hear cancer is now the #1 killer over heart disease (another sign and symptom). lol

Give the people entertainment and take their money before you take their lives. ....ooooo Bad day here. Sorry. in po'd mood.


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As reported last year, Cox-2 inhibitors suppress Cox-2, an antibody released by the immune system to fight infection. This news is breaking again, supported by yet another study, which doubtless will be countered.

Cox-2 drugs may suppress immune function

Analgesics called Cox-2 inhibitors, which U.S. health officials restricted Thursday, can not only damage the heart and blood vessels but may also suppress the immune system, researchers said.

A study published this week in the Journal of Immunology shows the drugs, used by arthritis sufferers, might affect the antibodies that attack invading germs. ...This could be both good news and bad news for the drugs, which have also recently been shown to double or triple the risk of heart attacks and strokes, the researchers at the University of Rochester in New York said. ...Pfizer Inc. suspended sales of its Cox-2 inhibitor Bextra Thursday at the request of U.S., European and Canadian regulators.

The Food and Drug Administration also asked Pfizer to include a strong “black box” warning for its Cox-2 drug Celebrex. Merck & Co.’s Cox-2 Vioxx was withdrawn last year.

Also see: Painkiller Bextra pulled from market

In other news, microbiologists continue to die mysteriously.

DOWN WITH MURDER INC. Dead microbiologists
Who’s Killing the World’s Microbiologists?


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Chuck Grassely is my Senator, I and my family vote against him every chance we get. Thank god my other Senator is Tom Harkin.

Marburg Toll In Angola Explodes to 200
www.recombinomics.com...
Recombinomics Commentary
April 7, 2005

As of 6 April, 200 cases of Marburg haemorrhagic fever have been reported in Angola. Of these cases, 173 have died. Kuanza Sul has reported its first case, bringing the number of affected provinces to six, all concentrated in the north-western part of the country.

The latest update from the WHO clearly shows exponential growth of Marburg cases, created increasing difficult conditions for contact tracing, which virtually assures continuation of the record breaking increase in cases.

The differential between diagnosed cases and those who have died has grown to 27. Last week the differential was 5-8. The increase in patients who are still alive does not indicate that patients are recovering. It indicates that new cases are being discovered faster than the older cases can die, because the number of older cases is small. The growing differential also indicates that a number of additional patients have been identified and the exponential growth virtually guarantees a new death record this month. The prior record of 280 deaths was set in the Ebola outbreak of 1967.

The dramatic growth in cases can be seen in the monthly figures. January there were 20, 31 in February, and 75 in March. In the first 6 days of April there are already 74 newly diagnosed cases. The case fatality rate remains at or near 100% and new cases in neighborhoods or slums near Luanda indicates many more infections will be reported in the coming weeks."


I would add that Marburg could kill everyone on earth in short order. I have heard it may have spread to South Africa. The WHO is sending testing kits to determine if it has. The slums in Luanda where this pale horse rides is next to an international airport and people are fleeing the area.

It can be difficult to find information on these issues. Especially bio weapon development the real terror. I believe this news should be front and center but we don't hear a thing about it.

Here is a link to a project that tries to shed some light and take this stuff out of invisibility.


www.sunshine-project.org...

Continue shopping.

Originally posted by jholden
Although you make a connection between Vioxx and the accelerated progression of FMD, there is no evidence in your article or direct statements that Vioxx can CAUSE the disease.

You need to look at prion strains to track the causal connection. FMD involves a misfolded protein called "a-smooth muscle actin (a-SMA)" - most likely an infectious prion. Prions are known to mutate easily into new strains - and COX-2 inhibitors may trigger a-SMA's mutation into a new strain.

This would mean that the Vioxx only affects those who already have FMD, and merely makes it worse.

Hmmm. Merely? At worst, a fatal heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. At best, degeneration resulting in chronic debilitation, forced early retirement, and bankruptcy from medical bills.

One might conclude then, that Vioxx is safe for those who do not already have FMD.

Looks like about 100% of the US population has FMD - see above.

Are there direct links of Vioxx as a CAUSE of FMD? Do you know of any sources which imply that there is a CAUSAL relationship?

The causal relationship is implied in that prions mutate into strains, specific to exposures and new cells on physical contact. ...Direct cause and effect relationships are an old science fiction - living beings are "complex adaptive systems," which are best understood as interelationships between various factors.


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In April 2004, BMS and Merck & Co Inc entered into a global collaborative agreement for muraglitazar. Muraglitazar normalizes adiponectin levels.

Adiponectin is a collagen-like circulating protein secreted by adipocytes, which stimulates COX-2 production to help heal the body after ischemic heart injury. COX-2 is produced by the body to fight inflammation - but it causes pain while it's working.

COX-2 inhibitors like Vioxx, also manufactured by Merck, relieve the pain by suppressing COX-2 production. So of course, the inflammation continues unhindered, and causes other problems - like heart attacks.

Merck's new drug Muraglitazar presumably can be used to neutralize the effects of short and long term use of Vioxx, its COX-2 inhibitor.

Adiponectin: Healing a wounded heart OR
Adiponectin

Adiponectin stimulates AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and COX-2 to prevent myocyte apoptosis and reduce inflammation after ischemic heart injury.
Original research papers: Nature Medicine 11, 1096 - 1103 (2005)

(One or the other of these links should work - but you probably will need to sign up for a free subscription.)

Also See: Muraglitazar: Bristol-Myers Squibb/Merck


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Merck just won a jury trial in its home state of New Jersey, brought by Frederick “Mike” Humeston, 60, of Boise, Idaho, who had a heart attack two months after he began taking Vioxx for pain from a Vietnam war knee injury.

Merck One; Plaintiffs One

After deliberating for less than eight hours over three days, the jury cleared Merck of allegations it failed to warn consumers about the drug’s risks and engaged in “unconscionable commercial practices” in marketing it to doctors and their patients.

The verdict was Merck’s first win out of two Vioxx-related trials. In August, a Texas jury found the company liable in a Vioxx user’s death.

Only one juror, casino worker Juan Garcia, voted that Merck failed to give adequate warnings to doctors about the link between Vioxx and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. ...“I think they should have known and explained more to the doctors and everyone,” Garcia said. He said he also believed Vioxx was a factor in causing Humeston’s heart attack.

But Vickie Heintz, who works in a manufacturer’s credit department, said she believed stress and Humeston’s other health problems were responsible for his heart attack. ...“I thought he had way too many health other issues,” Heintz said. “His medical records were riddled with many medicines.”

Merck faces more than 6,500 similar lawsuits, and Merck plans to fight them one by one. The not guilty verdict in the Humeston case means there is no clear precedent yet that might prove Merck’s ultimate Vioxx liability. Pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers and stock analysts are watching all the cases - including a federal trial scheduled to begin in Houston Nov. 28.

Journal: Merck hid bad Vioxx outcomes

Vioxx maker Merck & Co. concealed heart attacks suffered by three patients during a clinical study of the now-withdrawn painkiller in a report on the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2000, the journal wrote in an editorial released Thursday.

The editorial, written by the journal’s editor in chief, Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen, executive editor Dr. Gregory D. Curfman and a third doctor, also alleges the study’s authors deleted other relevant data before submitting their article for publication. ...“Taken together, these inaccuracies and deletions call into question the integrity of the data on adverse cardiovascular events in this article,” the doctors wrote. ...Adverse cardiovascular events include heart attacks, strokes and deaths.

One of the study’s authors was Dr. Alise Reicin, Merck’s vice president for clinical research. Reicin on Wednesday testified in the Houston trial that the company never misled doctors and the public about studies linking heart attacks to Vioxx.

The company now faces at least 7,000 lawsuits over Vioxx and legal liability some analysts have estimated at up to $50 billion. Those problems were part of the reason Merck last week announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs and close eight manufacturing and research facilities around the world as the first step in a sweeping reorganization.

[edit on 8-12-2005 by soficrow]

47 patients on Vioxx suffered thromboembolic events - including heart attacks, strokes and blood clots - compared with 20 taking naproxen, according to an internal Merck memo quoted in the New England Journal of Medicine.


Merck and Vioxx on Trial

The journal editors also again criticized Merck and the study's outside co-authors for failing to report the total number of serious thromboembolic events — including heart attacks, strokes and blood clots — among patients taking Vioxx in the trial. An internal Merck memo revealed that 47 patients on Vioxx suffered those problems, compared with 20 taking naproxen, according to the editors.

And the saga continues...

Jury awards $4.5 million in Vioxx verdict against Merck

A jury on Wednesday found Merck & Co. failed to warn Vioxx users of the drug's heart risks and ordered it to pay a 77-year-old plaintiff at least $4.5 million in a decision that raises questions about the company's future defense of thousands of lawsuits filed over the medicine.

The jury determined that the company knew or should have known that its pain drug increased the risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular events, but didn't adequately warn users or their doctors.

Originally posted by marg6043
I took all of them vioxx, naprozen, bextra, and all the above, during the 90s and all the way to 2004, I never got a hart attack, but I did end up in the hospital from a "panic attack" I got over it, with not medications.

I used to love bextra I was taken 20 mg two times a day and so vioxx.

I was also on neurontin and that is on the review also.

I guess I should complain about my "panic attack" and get my name on the list for some money.

Wow Marge do we have the same Dr?,I took all the above,can also throw in Paxil CR,though neurotrin drove me 5150,I'm no worse for wear and tear