Quote Of The Day: John Dingell On Vytorin Ads
3 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // January 23rd, 2008 // 2:37 pm
You may recall that Schering-Plough and Merck yesterday yanked their Vytorin TV ads “voluntarily and temporarily,” citing “mischaracterization and misinterpretation†of the controversial Vytorin study. The controversy? The drugmakers delayed results for nearly two years and briefly changed the primary endpoint without consulting their lead investigator. The study compared Vytorin with Zocor, and the results weren’t statistically significant.
Congress is probing whether trial data was manipulated, the cholesterol drug was aggressively marketed even as disappointing results were pondered, and if Schering-Plough execs sold stock before the drama became public. And so it’s not surprising that John Dingell, who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the Vytorin controversy, takes credit for the TV ads being pulled.
“I am pleased that our investigation prompted these companies to pull advertising for Vytorin,†Dingell says today in a statement. “However, our investigation is far from over and stopping this advertising by no means excuses these companies’ behavior.â€
Justice in Michigan
JD, who has owned my own Congressional distict pretty much since the Triassic period, is getting pushed harder on some issues this season than he is used to. So - whatever one thinks about the Vytorin ads - not surprising JD himself has become a bit of a DTC.
Jack2
1. Didn’t this all start when SP (belatedly) started to release the data, and not because of some investigational congressional probe?
http://www.pharmalot.com/2007/11/merck-schering-plough-battle-skepticism/
2. Didn’t SP pull the ads voluntarily, and not as a result of any congressional action?
What exactly did Dingell do?
James
Thanks God John Dingell is on the case when we need him, doing the important work of the people.
The two-front war, the economy, the impending collapse of Medicare, the growing strain on social security…none of that matters.
No, what is truly great is that I won’t have to see Crabby Betty next to a crustacean for a week. Where do I send the campaign contribution?
Oh, if only there were more gutsy people like him on the Hill, then we could have someone attacking that scourge of humanity Roger Clemens.