Bills & Pills.

If you get into their web site you will read and understand that Merck & Co. Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients first. The company was established by Friedrich Jacob Merck that purchased the second town pharmacy in Darmstadt, a town close to Frankfurt. When Friedrich died, the pharmacy was passed on to his nephew and ever since has gone from father to son. The sixth person in this series of pharmacists was Heinrich Emanuel Merck who in 1827 established the chemical-pharmaceutical factory in Darmstad, wich laid the foundations for the company's research operations.
Now, in 2008, Merck & Co. Inc. is one of the biggest chemical-pharmaceuticals companies in the world, it now produces a huge range of drugs, vaccines and other pharmaceutical stuffs, they almost doubled quartely profit, the first three months of 2008...they posted net income of $3.3 billions for the January-March period, up from $1.7 billion, one year ago. Guys, 3fuckin.3 billion dollars in three months!!! They are very good, this people is the best in doing that kind of job, don't you think so? How can they be so good? How much effort do they need to put in what they are doing, and above all, how can they achieve such an incredible financial performance? I wonder it right away I read about this really successfull entreprise. So, the first thing you need to do if you want your pharmaceutical industry to make a lot of money is this: draft dozens of research studies for a best-selling drug, then line up prestigious doctors to put their names on the reports before pubblication .
But what you need above all is a best-selling drug. They invented it too, the name was VIOXX. Vioxx is a selective non-steroidal anti-infiammatory drug, it was used to relieve signs and symptoms of arthritis, acute pains in adults, and painful menstrual cycles. Merck put on the market this amazing result of research and science in 1999, Vioxx was perfectly working in relieving pains to million of people - 80 millions more or less - and obviously was a huge financial success for the company. Merck spent more than $300millions in advertising, gifts, lunches and other nice things to let the world know this fantastic medicine. But a little problem came up: Vioxx caused the death for hearth attack or stroke of 28.000 people. It's also nice to know that Merck already knew - in 1999 - that the drug should rise the heart attack/stroke risks , in some kind of patients. Ok, ok, but why FDA - Food and Drug Administration - gave to Merck the permission to sell such a poison? And why doctors prescripted it more than 80 millions times? Try to think about that...1...2...3...4, you got it: money. Inside the FDA-Commission formed to decide about the commercialization of Vioxx there was a lot of people that liked to be paid by Merck, ok, but why 80 millions prescriptions? Because doctors liked to be paid or to get a free lunch by Merck as well. Phisicians, Merck, FDA...it looks like they didn't give a fuck about people sufferences. Money. The reflection I use to do when I read something like this story is not about who's guilty and how much they have to suffer in consequence of the pain they caused. The matter is all about money, that's the point. If the society starts to understand that money has right now too much power, I think, things like these will happen less often. So this article is not about a liar pharmaceutical industry, everybody knows they are all mother fuckers. It's about money and the concept we have of it. I'd like everyone in the world starts and think about a different way to look at the money. A last thing: if you don't think you need a medicine to survive or to calm down a terrible pain...please don't take it. Thank you for your time and attention.

- Corriere.it - Repubblica.it - Merck.com - Wikipedia.org - Iht.com - Nytimes.com - Bbc.com - Fda.gov -