Merck Consultants: Vytorin Critics 'Hysterical'

The editorialists over at the American Journal of Cardiology who last month attacked Vytorin critics as hysterics must not have heard that there are rules for people who live in glass houses who throw stones: they are required to let readers know when they moonlight for the stone maker.

The editorial by cardiologists David G. Harrison, W. Virgil Brown, and Paolo Raggi supported continued use of Vytorin and criticized the "hysterical coverage [of the ENHANCE trial] from Web sites, news organizations, and cardiologists who seem to seek high visibility." Hmm, I wonder if they were referring to comments that appeared here and here.

Not only were the editorialists upset with critical comments about Vytorin, but they appeared to be discomforted by the very idea of free speech. The last sentence of their editorial stated that "we are concerned that [Vytorin] or its makers will be eliminated" as a result of the press coverage of the ENHANCE trial.

Too bad they failed to point out that each of the editorial's authors has financial ties to either Merck and Schering-Plough, which makes and markets Vytorin, or other companies that make cholesterol lowering drugs.

The AJC wasn't alone in going after Vytorin critics. An editorial in the July Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine attacked cardiologists Steven Nissen and Harlan Krumholz for their views on Vytorin and ends with the apocalyptic concern that "unless change occurs, a vibrant pharmaceutical industry with the financial and intellectual capital to find and develop new, more effective treatments will cease to exist." The editorial was written by Michael Davidson, a consultant, speaker, and researcher for Merck/Schering-Plough.

Let's hope that those new treatments will be more effective that Vytorin.

Meanwhile, Ed Silverman on Pharmalot, a blog associated with the Newark Star-Ledger, reports that Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) has sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration requesting the statistical analysis by Oxford's Richard Peto that dismissed the increased cancer cases and deaths in the SEAS trial and two other ongoing Vytorin trials.

-- PM