Sunday, July 19 2009

MERCK and Company Inc made a hit list of doctors who had to be “neutralised” or discredited because they criticised Vioxx, lawyers in an Australian court claimed in May this year.

According to the lawyers, staff at the company emailed each other about the list of doctors – mainly researchers and academics who had been negative about the drug Vioxx or Merck and a recommended course of action.

The email, which came out in the Federal Court in Melbourne, Australia, on May 31 as part of a class action against the drug company, included the words “neutralise”, “neutralised” or “discredit” against some of the doctors’ names.

It is also alleged the company used intimidation tactics against critical researchers, including dropping hints it would stop funding to institutions and claims it interfered with academic appointments.

“We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live,” a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court by Julian Burnside QC, acting for the plaintiff.

Merck & Co and its Australian subsidiary, Merck, Sharpe and Dohme, are being sued for compensation by more than 1,000 Australians, who claim they suffered heart attacks or strokes as a result of Vioxx.