Joe Rogan on vioxx: what the evidence says · JRE #2335
SUBJECT: VIOXX
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
In the emails that were admitted during the hearings when they lost or during the court proceedings They wound up paying a fraction of what they made they made like 12 billion dollars
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Merck's arthritis painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib) was on the market from May 1999 until its withdrawal in September 2004, and peer-reviewed sources report it brought in more than 2.5 billion dollars annually, roughly 10 percent of Merck's worldwide sales, at its peak. Over its roughly five years on sale that implies cumulative revenue in the range of about 10 to 12 billion dollars, so Rogan's 12 billion figure is at the high end but in the right ballpark. In November 2007 Merck agreed to pay a fixed 4.85 billion dollars to settle 26,600 lawsuits representing 47,000 plaintiffs over heart attack and stroke claims. That settlement was indeed a fraction of the drug's lifetime sales, supporting the core of the claim. Roughly accurate.