JULY 2008: AROUND THE STATE
State wins case against Merck
STATEWIDE
Oregon’s lead role in a record-breaking settlement with
Merck & Co. over deceptive marketing for the
anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx represents the latest skirmish in
an ongoing campaign against Big Pharma that has earned the
state more than $8.5 million.
After leading a three-year, 30-state investigation into
deceptive advertisements downplaying the health risks
associated with Vioxx, Oregon received $2.8 million of the
record $58 million paid out by Merck. The judgment banned Merck
from manipulating data when marketing to physicians,
“ghost writing” articles for medical journals and
failing to disclose conflicts of interest among doctors who
study and promote drugs on behalf of the company.
The Vioxx settlement reflects growing concerns over how drug
companies hook consumers on prescription drugs. Drug giants
have poured billions into “demand creation” since
the federal government loosened rules prohibiting
“direct-to-consumer” advertising in 1997. In 2007
Oregon was the lead state in an $8 million settlement against
Bayer for minimizing the dangers of Baycol, and also was in on
a $19.5 million settlement against Purdue Pharma regarding
OxyContin.
State officials cannot comment about current cases involving
major pharmaceutical firms, but Oregon’s campaign against
Big Pharma is clearly far from finished. Leading the way has
been assistant attorney general David Hart, who worked in
health care prior to pursuing consumer law and is married to a
pharmacist. Hart has served as lead investigator and negotiator
on all of Oregon’s major drug company cases. “The
money we’ve gotten in these settlements gets put to good
use, but these cases aren’t about the money,” he
says, “they’re about the rules we create and the
light that we shed on these practices so that we can change
them.”
Ken Johnson, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, said in a prepared statement that
drug companies “are committed to providing accurate,
educational information to patients and health professionals
about their
medicines.”
BEN JACKLET
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