Merck Agrees to Pay $950 Million in Vioxx Case

[alp227]

Source: NYT

Merck has agreed to pay $950 million and pleaded guilty to a criminal charge over the marketing and sales of the painkiller Vioxx, the company and the Department of Justice said Tuesday.

The negotiated settlement, which also included resolution of a civil case, was the latest of a series of fraud cases brought by federal and state prosecutors against major pharmaceutical companies.

By the time that Vioxx, approved in 1999, was pulled off the market in 2004 because evidence showed that it posed a dangerous heart risk, about 25 million Americans had taken the drug.

In a statement on Tuesday, Merck said that it had previously disclosed the seven-year investigation by the United States attorney in Massachusetts and had charged $950 million against its earnings in October 2010.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/business/merck-agrees-to-pay-950-million-in-vioxx-case.html

[DCKit]

1. "The cost of doing business".

You KNOW they made tons more than that off the drug.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. even after spending a BILLION in ads, they still

cleared more than 1.5 BILLION each year it was on the market.

(if you look VERY CLOSELY to their annual reports, that is)

[Angry Dragon]

2. And how much time is this people-corp going to spend in prison??

Sounds like attempted murder
I do not see how it could be anything less

[cpamomfromtexas]

5. Vioxx killed my mother in law

[Angry Dragon]

6. May I assume there is no recourse for your family??

[cpamomfromtexas]

13. They paid estate around $80,000 lawyer took $40K

[nineteen50]

4. The fines and penalties make crime by huge corporations so profitable they

will never stop.

[OhioChick]

7. $950 Mil is a drop in the bucket to them n/t

[elehhhhna]

8. Vioxx generated $2.5 billion in worldwide sales for Merck in 2003

Medicine and the market: the Vioxx and flu vaccine debacleswww.wsws.org/articles/2004/oct2004/viox-o08.shtmlCached - Similar
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
Oct 8, 2004 – The reason is clear: a successful “best-selling” drug is a profit bonanza. Vioxx generated $2.5 billion in worldwide sales for Merck in 2003

[Xtraneous]

9. Trusting big pharma and the medical industrial complex is just as insane

as believing that Homeland Security is going to protect us from the bad guys. HS may not provide as many jobs... yet.

[JJW]

10. They shouldn't get personhood rights until they start

getting incarcerated for their crimes against humanity. They should be tried for genocide at the Hague.

[dballance]

11. I'm Sure there is no direct casual link but...

...we never should have let them start advertising. It's all supposition on my part but it seems to me these problems multiplied as they started to advertise. I think the money stakes got bigger when they could start advertising because they had to keep coming out with something new all the time. Sort of like the car companies come out with new models all the time.

So I think they're push through studies and trials recklessly and negligently in order to get that new model out there fast.

[Vinca]

12. Chump change to big pharma.

[defendandprotect]

14. Merck/Big Pharma are among our biggest criminals -- they'll do anything to make a buck -- !!

[Desertrose]

15. ....or a coupla billion bucks......

[Doctor_J]

17. every month

Merck posts $6.5B quarterly profit, plans 15 percent job cut

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/merck_posts65b_profit_thanks_t.html

[Doctor_J]

16. Whoa...2 weeks profit. that's going to make them think twice...

:puke: