Friend requests in Vy-Space
One of the beauty’s of the American marketplace is this: If you can buy ad-space, you can sell your wares, even when those wares have been proved a sham. This week’s proof? Vytorin. Clinical trials of the combo-cholesterol drug, which were subject to a little data-magic last year, have come up way short in the cholesterol-lowering and plaque-dissolving departments for which it was sold. But aggressive marketing of the drug, which got the official snake-oil verdict by an expert panel of cardiologists at the American College of Cardiologists conference two weeks ago, steams ahead. This week, Merck and Schering-Plough, the drug companies that teamed up to bring us Vytorin, ran a double-sided full-page ad touting the drug in a number of top newspaper dailies in the country, including the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times.
Another beauty of the American marketplace is this: Bad news doesn’t go unnoticed. News of Vytorin’s dismal trial results triggered a stock price plummet and ensuing crisis at Schering-Plough, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported Sunday. In the aftermath of the ACC conference, Schering-Plough announced it would eliminate 5,000 jobs as part of a cost-cutting strategy, the development of which was apparently a Zen-like experience for CEO Fred Hassan, who told the Star-Ledger:
“It’s really very refreshing and energizing to see people just come together and in a very good way,” he said. “We had the whole team there working together.”
Hmmmm. That kumbiya-like description of how well the S-P management team worked together to plan cutbacks may not have been the best story to relay through New Jersey’s top news outlet. We’re pretty sure that the 5,000 Schering-Plough employees – mostly New Jerseyites – whose jobs are on the chopping block, not to mention the five million people who shelled out for Vytorin last year, are feeling anything but refreshed and energized today.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:56 am
This blog and the blog posted on 4/4 seem to suggest that: #1 Vytorin did not reduce LDL and #2 Patients should stop this course of treatment immediately. If this is the case, it is not an accurate depiction of the ACC statement regarding the ENHANCE trial and is no better than the marketing tactics being lambasted in the first paragraph.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:07 am
The makers of “Airborne” a non prescription cold remedy
are being required to reimburse users who can document their purchases any monies they paid for Airborne.
Will S-P, and moew importantly, the MDs who perscribed this
snake oil be required to do the same???????