Posted by Dan Perkins on December 10, 2004, at 16:43:13
In reply to Re: Why do we never learn from the past??? » Dan Perkins, posted by RetiredYoung on December 10, 2004, at 16:08:36
The figure of up to 55,000 deaths (as well as 159,000 heart attacks) attributable to Vioxx comes from FDA scientist David Graham's testimonial before Congress. Here are a couple of articles that address Graham's comment:
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/2004/11/19/living/10220598.htm
http://www.newstarget.com/002458.htmlI know this seems like it's been a pretty big story in the news, but I still don't think it has gotten nearly enough attention, and both the FDA and Merck have been unwilling to accept any responsibility for the fact that this drug remained on the market so long after it's harmful effects were discovered (they were actually know about before the drug was even approved).
To put the number of 55,000 deaths into perspective, it is about the same number of Americans killed in Vietnam (~58,000) or, to use a more recent comparison, it is over ten times the number of people killed on 9/11 and in the first and second Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan combined. And it looks like not a single person is going to even lose their job over this scandal.
poster:Dan Perkins
thread:427180
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041206/msgs/427366.html