Has the Merck Pharmaceutical Company Killed More People than the U.S. Military or Any Terrorist Organization?

 

Which private corporation has likely been responsible for the deaths of more innocent people than any terrorist organization or military regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere? 

For us, the answer is evident: Merck and Company.

Iatraogenic medicine, or medical error, is now the third leading cause of death in the US after cardiovascular disease and cancer. The majority of these deaths are caused by FDA approved drugs’ adverse effects and from patients taking multiple medications without thorough clinical research to determine the safety of their synergistic effects. 

Consequently our health agencies’ oversight and monitoring of drugs on the market is dismal. 

One of the worst corporate deals the US government may have ever made in modern history was to acquire the American subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical firm Merck and Company during the first world war. Later in 1953, Merck acquired a competitive drug maker Sharp and Dohme, thereby establishing itself as America’s largest drug developer and manufacturer.

Since then this corporate Medusa has ensnared thirteen other drug firms, including Scherring Plough, which it acquired for $41 billion. The two pharmaceutical giants had earned $47 billion in combined sales at the time the merger was finalized in 2009.

Merck’s legacy of lawsuits for crimes was observed back in the 1970s.

In 1975, it was busted by the SEC for illegal payments to foreign government officials from “approximately” 36 nations. The scam was orchestrated through personal bank accounts with the sole purpose of advancing drug approvals through foreign nations’ regulatory medical agencies.  

One of the largest scandals in recent medical history was the company’s anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx that resulted in fines above $4.8 billion for causing over a minimum 60,000 deaths from sudden heart attacks and over 120,000 serious medical injuries.

At its height, Vioxx was earning over $2 billion in revenues annually and it is estimated that 25 million patients were prescribed the medication. The securities class action suit against the company alone reached $1 billion, placing it in the top 15 securities lawsuits in US corporate history. The primary charge was Merck’s intentional withholding of scientific data about the drug’s adverse cardiovascular side effects. 

Years after the settlement, Ron Unz, the publisher of The American Conservative, undertook his own investigation to validate Vioxx’s death toll. Analyzing the drug’s adverse effects over a longer time period, Unz estimated Merck may have been responsible for nearly half a million premature deaths in elderly patients, the drug’s primary target group.

That is roughly the same number of total civilian, military and terrorist deaths from the US’ military escapades in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan combined.   (more...)

Has the Merck Pharmaceutical Company Killed More People than the U.S. Military or Any Terrorist Organization?

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