THE POISON PILL

The actions of Merck went beyond the bounds of anything seen before in the pharmaceutical industry. To say Merck merely bent the rules is quite an understatement,” says leading pharmaceutical industry expert and thirty year veteran, Tom Nesi, author of a new book POISON PILLS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF VIOXX DRUG SCANDAL (St Martin’s Press, September 17, 2008). This new book reveals little known details about the pharmaceutical giant Merck’s tactics in aggressively marketing drugs -- from bribing doctors to endorse a drug, ignoring and delaying research, to intimidating and threatening scientists. Even five years after Merck took Vioxx off the market for causing fatal harm to patients; new evidence reported by The New York Times finds that the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA continue to play Russian roulette with patients and their health.