Carrie Cox has gone through pharmaceutical companies like “Sherman through Georgia.” She has a long history of misdeeds (e.g., phen/fen at AHP, off-label HGH promotion at Pharmacia) and has managed to slither her way out of each and every one. Why? Because she hides behind Fred Hassan and he has repeatedly protected her and she him. Unfortunately, at Schering-Plough we now have the worst of the worst from Pharmacia, cronies of Fred and Carrie all, who are running the company into the ground. They’re all there - Ellen Geisel, Margriet Gabriel-Regis, Sean McNicholas, C. Ron Cheeley, and Thomas Koestler. Why? because they sold their souls long ago and are willing to take a bullet fro Fred Hassan and Carrie Cox. You say you don’t know the woman, but people who have worked for her do. As for the Legal and Regulatory Compliance folks, they’re as corrupt as the rest of them, led by Tom Sabatino and previously Brent Saunders, respectively. They all cashed out like Carrie Cox. As for CafePharma and BrandWeekRx, they are not only frequented by sales people, but also insiders at Schering-Plough. Not all of it is correct, but much of it is. Employees who have been suppressed and threatened sometimes have no place to go but these sites. I agree with Ed that sometimes important insider information is leaked from these sites.

As for my opinion, there is absolutely, positively no question at all that Carrie Cox knew that the ENHANCE study was in deep deep trouble and was extremely likely to be negative as early as the Summer of 2006. She asked those that knew multiple times from June 2006 through April 2007 and was told exactly what was going on with the study. Even Carrie could figure the rest of it out. If the study didn’t have a prayer of being positive, then there was going to be a major negative impact on Schering-Plough stock. By the Spring of 2007, it was painfully obvious to all involved at SP that this study was a complete and utter failure. Carrie couldn’t stand it any more, personal greed took over, and she cashed in. When she did, people all aound her knew she was taking a giant risk, but she was too bold and self-centered to look at it logically. She banked on how difficult insider trading is to prove.

The question is not when she knew the study was definitely negative, but did she know something about ENHANCE that the public didn’t know. The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Anybody even remotely connected with Zetia, Vytorin or the Cholesterol Franchise knew exactly what was going on. As for Merck or their counterparts at MSP, I don’t know. The data was atrocious and there was no way of fixing it. The study had no prayer to deliver. Carrie sold her huge bundle of stock and made millions and millions of dollars with that knowledge. If she says she didn’t, she’s lying once more. It wouldn’t be the first time (phen/fen, HGH) and it certainly won’t be the last. She’ll have to lie when she goes to Washington.

Carrie, previously labeled one of the Top 50 Women in Business, has been done in by her own horrible greed. Then several others followed her lead and many of the top executives were bailing out. Disgraceful, disgusting, yet completely true. As for the investigation, given the heightened level of activities at Schering-Plough regarding anything related to ENHANCE, there won’t be anything left when the feds arrive. It will all be gone by the time they arrive as the files (paper and electronic) will be completely “sanitized” by then.

Then Carrie Cox will no doubt escape once more, probably no wiser and definitely more cocky!

- Congress has requested that all files/notes be submitted concerning any discussion of ENHANCE
- C. Cox investigation/inquiry into insider trading
- Sales of both Vytorin and Zetia dropping more than 10% in one week
- No announcement to the public other than newpaper ads from MRK or SGP
- The unfortunate timing of Vioxx being pulled from the market the same time Vytorin’s ENHANCE was complete but not published

At the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse, I’ll try to be clearer - generally speaking, a ceo will do what he or she wants, irrespective of employee sentiment.

However, there are times - such as a crisis or a scandal - when employee sentiment can matter. Such moments can influence morale, job performance, retention or recruitment - and interfere with the ability to achieve corporate goals. A ceo who ignores employees during such episodes may be doing so at his or her own peril.

The Vytorin controversy is shaping up as one of those episodes. This is a topic of great interest and concern to Schering-Plough employees of all stripes, whether they work at the Kenilworth, NJ, headquarters or in the field. And so as I already stated in my previous comment, the survey provides a window - however imperfect - into the thinking of some of those employees. And it is for these reasons that I ran the survey - not for entertainment purposes, as you put it.

And with all due respect, I was not taking sides in the matter by choosing to run the survey. Nor did I take sides by running a question-and-answer with a financial planner who expressed skepticism with the rush to accuse SGP execs of insider trading. I attempted to offer differing points of view. That’s called the bigger picture.

Hope this helps,

ed

My problem is that your site (Pharmalot) is primarily a NEWS website. Most readers use your site to keep up with the happenings of the pharma industry. You dilute your credibility and impartiality by running “entertainment” pieces (like this one) that masquerade as news. There was nothing newsworthy about this post. It’s something like what I would read on a Pharma version of “Entertainment Tonight”!

It’s certainly your prerogative to post what you want — but I’ve come to expect to read NEWS at the Pharmalot site. This was not news (or even informed opinion), by any stretch of the imagination.

Understood. I was actually referring to the remarks made by the financial planner in the question-and-answer interview from last Friday. I can’t speak for him, but I believe the point he was trying to make was to let the appropriate government authority do its job. Hope that helps.

ed