Overview

When drug giant Merck put its block-buster arthritis drug Vioxx on the market in 1999, it already had the results from clinical studies that indicated the drug may put patients at increased risk for heart disease. Yet the company withheld that information, claimed the drug had a “favorable cardiovascular profile”, and even went as far to publish a training manual for sales representatives called "Vioxx Dodge Ball," instructing the marketers on how to dodge doctor's questions on the safety concerns. Over the five years Vioxx was on the market, it's estimated that 140,000 patients using the drug suffered from heart disease, and 55,000 died as a result.

Federal law doesn't require that the drug companies publish the results of all of their clinical trials for public review. That's why some companies only publish the favorable test results, and keep the damaging ones secret. That has to change. But too many members of Congress and the Food and Drug Administration are too closely tied to the pharmaceutical industry to fix this problem That's why NCPIRG is calling on the state Legislature to pass model legislation known as the Prescription Drug Right to Know Act. This bill would require that all drug companies certify in writing to the state that they've published the results of all of their clinical trials in a federal database. This certification would be necessary before the companies could sell their products in North Carolina, and would give patients, doctors and watchdog groups the information we need to hold the drug companies accountable for safety.