The lessons of Merck's bad day in court

摘要

"We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear," said George Merck, an early chairman of the eponymous drug company. On August 19th, a jury in Texas decided to give the drugmaker a not-so-gentle reminder of that dictum. It awarded a whopping $253m in damages to the widow (pictured above) of Robert Ernst, a 59-year-old marathon runner who died from an irregular heartbeat caused, so the jury concluded, by Merck's now infamous anti-inflammatory drug, Vioxx. This was the first, ominous verdict in more than 4,000 lawsuits that Merck faces over Vioxx. These reflect a dramatic decline in the fortunes of what was until recently one of America's most respected companies but is now the poster child for the drug industry's worst excesses. Indeed, last week's verdict is prompting questions about Merck's ability to survive the Vioxx crisis, at least as an independent firm.