Merck in the Mirror: Profits, Not People, Come First. Shame!

"How can Merck look itself in the mirror?", asks Josh Bloom of the American Council for Science and Health (see here)."This week, Merck, with some questionable help from the FDA, gave more ammunition to industry critics, who typically maintain that the industry contributes little innovation, and is simply concerned with profits," said Bloom."For the most part, this criticism is biased and uninformed, but this time I'm siding with the critics. Because Merck is trying something that is as good an example of marketing without innovation as you'll ever see."Derek Lowe, respected author of In the Pipeline blog, agrees. "I can't see how he's wrong," said Lowe (here). "What I'm seeing is an attempt by Merck to position itself should the ongoing Vytorin trial actually exonerate the combination idea. Vytorin, you see, doesn't have all that much patent lifetime left; its problems since 2008 have eaten the most profitable years right out of its cycle. So if Vytorin turns out to actually work out, after all the exciting plot twists, Merck will be there to tell people that they shouldn't take it. No, they should take exciting new Liptruzet instead. It's newer.""If anyone can think of a reason why this doesn't make Merck look like shady marketeers, I'd like to hear it. And (as Bloom points out) it doesn't make the FDA look all that great, either, since I'm sure that Liptruzet will count towards the end-of-the-year press release about all the innovative new drugs that the agency has approve...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Zetia Profits before patients Merck Lipitor Source Type: blogs