QDIS Blog

Seems Merck is in the news a lot recently. Now, the FDA has sent an Approvable letter to them for Arcoxia. This means that although the FDA thinks the compound could be approved, they need mor information before they can make that determination.

PharmaLive: Merck Responds to FDA-Issued Approvable Letters for Arcoxia (etoricoxib)

Results mixed on Merck’s new painkiller - Yahoo! News

Results of this study were published in The Lancet (DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69666-9) recently and many experts have reservations. While I think there is indeed a need for pain relief for those suffering from arthritis, the similarity to Vioxx needs to be taken into account and hopefully, the FDA will indeed insist that the proper trials are carried out and no shortcuts are taken.

Currently Celebrex from Pfizer is the only Cox-2 inhibitor still on the market.

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As if Merck needed more controversy. It seems that they now have a potential tax problem with the US and Canada for $5.58 billion dollars.

Merck has tax disputes in U.S. and Canada with $5.58 billion potential liabilities - iht,business,US Merck Tax Disputes - Business - International Herald Tribune

While I’m not a tax expert at all, I find this interesting since GlaxoSmithKline also has had some tax problems. I’m not sure why these are coming to the fore now but they seem to have to do with how revenues are recognized.

Merck’s CEO seems totally unconcerned by this and said he doesn’t lose any sleep over it. While, I’m not saying he should lose sleep, I think it should be at least somewhat seriously. Underestimating anyone is a common problem in warfare and in business.

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