› $4.85 Billion settlement in drug case
More bad news for the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin. The drug has been under scrutiny lately for everything from elevated cancer risk and serious side effects to ineffectiveness. This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety announcement about simvastatin, one of the two active ingredients found in the medication, and an increased risk of a potentially life-threatening muscle injury.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it found no clear link between Merck’s blockbuster cholesterol drug Vytorin and increased risk of cancer, but it could not rule out the possibility that such a link exists. The agency reviewed data from three Vytorin trials, including the controversial SEAS trial results, which Merck had withheld from the public for 18 months as it aggressively marketed the drug.
Merck and Schering-Plough, the pharmaceutical giants whose joint venture produced the blockbuster cholesterol drug Vytorin, agreed to pay $41.5 million to settle 140-plus New Jersey lawsuits lodged against the manufacturers for misleading and improper marketing of the drug and for withholding the results of a clinical trial that showed Vytorin to be a dud.
