Lisa Stringer, 38, of Chicago, who suffers chronic pain from a spine condition and gets little relief from other drugs, “is saving her last three precious Vioxx tablets for the really bad days”; she’s one of thousands of patients upset that the drug is unavailable now. Even one of the plaintiff’s expert witnesses in Ernst seems to agree that it ought to be on the market — slim chance of that now (Bruce Japsen, Chicago Tribune, Aug. 21). WiredGC (Aug. 22) writes: “I know people who are desperate for it to go back on the market, as it was the only medication that made their pain bearable and a mobile life livable. They would gladly take the (slight) increased risk of stroke or heart attack, for the chance to be able to get out of bed in the morning.”
Derek Lowe (Aug. 21) doesn’t buy the notion that the execs, scientists and marketers at a company like Merck carry a map in their heads with a big line drawn between “Vioxx users” and “us”. And Ted has further expanded his big Point of Law post on the case to reflect new press accounts based on juror interviews: in particular, don’t miss the juror who wanted to be on Oprah, and the juror who bragged to the WSJ that he didn’t understand any of the medical evidence.
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