Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK)

All Comments on MRK

  • commenter
    TomLamb
    Mar 20 08:53 AM
    My Website
    Consumers Union’s Approach to Improving Drug Safety Surveillance is Misguided [view article]
    You have presented a very good idea about how to improve the FDA's performance as regards its drug safety oversight mission.

    The problem of not reporting serious side effects caused by prescription drugs seems to ingrained in medical doctors, generally, and this problem apparently goes beyond the U.S., as is seen
    in this February 2008 article from the British Medical Journal:

    "Most doctors still don’t report adverse reactions to drugs" (www.bmj.com/cgi/conten...).

    Your idea about how to cure this problem is sound, and would be implemented if we were ready to spare no expense to further drug safety in in the U.S. Unfortunately, in our nation today your idea may not be feasible, practically, due to its costs.

    Another idea which may be not as good as yours -- but would serve as an improvement to how the system functions today -- involves medical information databases maintained by large HMO's and other medical insurance entities being searched, or "mined", by software programs to detect possible emerging drug safety signals.

    Lastly, I applaud Consumers Union for seeking to raise awareness about the MedWatch program and how patients can report their serious side effects to the FDA.

    In closing, thanks for your article and effort towards improving the safety of prescription drugs.


    Tom Lamb

    www.DrugInjuryWatch.co...     Reply
  • commenter
    A
    midwestern
    neighbor
    Mar 18 06:28 PM
    Fast Money Recap 3/17/08: Where is the Bottom? [view article]
    um...17 billion in, 18 billion out? that's how. Reply
  • commenter
    franky
    Mar 18 08:21 AM
    Fast Money Recap 3/17/08: Where is the Bottom? [view article]
    how can a 17 billion dollar a year company go broke? Reply
  • commenter
    upndown1313
    Mar 15 10:14 AM
    Is Merck's New Obesity Drug Candidate in Serious Trouble? [view article]
    Discontinuations due to GI- and psychiatric-related AEs were 0.7%, 1.7%, 2.7% and 4.6%, 8.9%, 12.5%, respectively, for Pbo, 2- and 4- mg groups. Most AEs were mild to moderate in intensity.
    Conclusions: Treatment with taranabant for 52 wks led to clinically meaningful weight loss and improvements in metabolic parameters with a favorable risk/benefit profile.     Reply
  • commenter
    selene
    Mar 13 09:55 AM
    Is Merck's New Obesity Drug Candidate in Serious Trouble? [view article]
    The abstracts are all published on line a couple of weeks before the event. They are publicly available. Here is the link

    www.abstractsonline.co...={2AC39EBE-EB29-4F99-9...     Reply
  • commenter
    Toxic Spit
    Feb 27 01:09 PM
    Merck Heads for Another Catastrophe [view article]
    I know less now than I knew before reading all this. Reply
  • commenter
    quest
    Feb 26 10:57 PM
    Court Dismisses Apotex's Cosopt Exclusivity Counterclaims Against Merck [view article]
    This an interesting situation. So who gets the 180 days exclusivity on Trusopt and Cosopt. Apotex or Hi-Tech?
    FDA lists the "substantially complete" application as the one filed on 10/07/05. This is close to the date Hi-Tech filed their application.     Reply
  • commenter
    Gob
    Feb 26 09:02 PM
    My Website
    5 Pillars of Investing During Economic Downturns [view article]
    yeah!!!! Give me an exotic company that makes something totally cool and technologically advanced THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND AT ALL!!!

    Plodders are boring. I want 349% yearly returns!!!     Reply
  • commenter
    granger
    Feb 26 06:08 PM
    Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Holdings Outperforming S&P 500 Handily [view article]
    Very cool thanks. Nice to see some overlap. I currently hold TSCO, CNI, EXP, BRK-B. I am sure in much smaller portions then Gates. Reply
  • commenter
    cheesecake
    Feb 26 05:57 PM
    My Website
    Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Holdings Outperforming S&P 500 Handily [view article]
    awesome let me pattern my portfolio after them...wait i don't have billions of dollars :)
    jk guys, ty for the analsis.     Reply
  • commenter
    Painiac
    Feb 26 08:11 AM
    A PR Virus for Pharmaceuticals [view article]
    From my perspective as a pain specialist, I am not surprised at the decline in trust. The oxycontin marketing model and subsequent success really opened my eyes to the extent that cash drives the system. While it was supposed to provide improvements in cancer care it was obvious to me that common back pain was the real target. The corruption of pain specialists to be part of their paid "speakers bureau" while a bold inciteful marketing move was ultimately bad for the specialty. Eventually the FDA fined them but not close to the amount of profits generated. Their legacy lives on in the increased forever addicted young opiate addicts. Perhaps it was one companies problem, but every pain product brought to market by other comapnies has tried to follow their marketing model.
    The gabapentin mismarketing was another example that pain specialists and eventually the public saw through (again large FDA fine). Here a marginally effective seizure drug was good for pain but the company did not test it that way until it was forced to do so.
    Today, suboxone is marketed as a addiction treatment but a good portion of its use is for pain. Again the company doesn't want todo the reasearch and the reps can't talk about it but they bring in speakers bureau docs to have their say.
    That being said, the ethics of the pharm business seem to be improving, but the survey shows that pharm is lying in the bed that they feathered. Complaining that they don't like the lumps in the mattress sounds like sour grapes from here.
    Reply
  • commenter
    anonymous
    Feb 24 10:16 AM
    Merck Heads for Another Catastrophe [view article]
    I love it when the general public chimes in because now that they have been "briefed" by the media they know it all. Drug companies will always be the big bad wolf because everyone wants something for free. Drugs that make them skinny with no side effects, drugs that take their pain away..but still no side effects, drugs that lower cholesterol or keep them "normal" but still we don't want side effects. C'mon people wake up you are altering your body's chemical makeup it is designed to work in snyc...of course there are going to be side effects or dare I say it...DEATHS. Take off the blinders, drug companies take on an immense amount of risk all for the greater good of helping people...yes they make money that is what business does. If you only knew how much $ it actually takes to bring one successful drug to market then you may understand. Until you have all the facts I agree with the above poster...don't write or comment about something you know nothing about. Reply
  • commenter
    VintonCounty
    Feb 24 03:37 AM
    Merck Heads for Another Catastrophe [view article]
    Please don't write about something that you know nothing about. Reply
  • commenter
    ed silverman
    Feb 21 03:00 PM
    Merck Heads for Another Catastrophe [view article]
    Good observation. As an aside, Merck recently agreed to pay $670 million to settle charges that it failed to pay the appropriate rebates to Medicaid and other goverment health care programs, and also paid kickbacks to doctors and hospitals to induce them to prescribe various meds. This episode, however, began more than a decade ago. In other words, Vioxx may represent a turning point in Merck's business practices in the collective memory, but Merck was actually engaged in disturbing conduct even before the drugmaker was playing dodgeball with cardiovascular side effects. Granted, the Medicaid fraud took place after Roy Vagelos had left and it had nothing to do with development work, but it underscores that Merck was veering toward controversy quite some time ago.

    Ed Silverman at Pharmalot

    www.pharmalot.com/2008.../     Reply
  • commenter
    Jake2
    Feb 16 01:40 AM
    My Website
    5 Pillars of Investing During Economic Downturns [view article]
    Sorry but this article looked like a product placement or a sales pitch rather than something truely informative or helpful. Pepsi? Johnson and Johnson? Come on, tell me something I don't know. Reply

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