Profits Before People: Merck and Schering-Plough Caught Red handed

Emails between a Schering-Plough executive and the principle investigator of the ENHANCE trial were made public today by Sen. Chuck Grassley.  The emails reveal that the ENHANCE trial’s principal investigator perceived that the drugmakers were withholding unfavorable results about ezetimibe/simvastatin (Vytorin) for non-scientific reasons.  (Surprise Surprise).  Instead of releasing the bad data, Sen. Grassley noted, Merck/Schering-Plough went on a marketing blitz to increase Vytorin prescriptions. 

For example, Grassley reported that Merck/Schering-Plough spent $3.5 million for the “49 plan,” a wine-and-dine marketing blitz of physicians to increase the volume of ezetimibe/simvastatin (Vytorin) prescriptions.  He also chided the ACC for issuing a statement asking for calm and encouraging doctors to continue to prescribe Vytorin.  That statement was passed to each member of congress by Merck/Schering-Plough.

Results 

The full ENHANCE results were released at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting here yesterday, two years after data collection ended. The study found that patients randomized to ezetimibe/simvastatin (Vytorin) had no significant benefit in atherosclerosis progression over simvastatin alone.