City Sues Merck over Vytorin
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Oct 17 2008 at 12:11 PM
Vytorin >>

The city of New Haven, Connecticut will be suing pharmaceutical giants Merck and Schering-Plough claiming that their cholesterol drugs, Zetia and Vytorin, do not work.

Corporation counsel John Ward said that New Haven has spent over $400,000 for employees to take the allegedly ineffective anti-cholesterol drugs. John Ward is now seeking reimbursement for the tax money it spent on the medications.

Zetia and Vytorin became the top sellers in 2007 and created $5 billion in sales. These two drugs were supposed to provide more protection against heart attacks than generic statin drugs.

“City employees jumped on the bandwagon. City paid over $400,000 to buy the drug for people covered by the health care plan for city employees,” Ward said.

Vytorin is a combination of Zetia and the generic drug Zocor. According to Ward, a study came out in January showed that Vytorin failed to outperform the generic drug in tackling artery plaque. The study says that the drug doesn’t work.

Merck didn’t comment on the issue. However, a Schering-Plough spokesperson said the company stood behind its product and was planning to fight any dispute dynamically.

Comments