Whistle-Blower Trying to Stop Kiler Drug From Making a Killing

USATODAY.com - FDA whistle-blower Graham blasts new Merck arthritis drug

The arthritis drug that Merck has developed to compete with Celebrex may be as risky for the heart as Vioxx, writes Food and Drug Administration whistle-blower David Graham in an editorial posted online Tuesday by a medical journal.

In considering whether Arcoxia should be approved, 'the FDA, academia, and the medical research enterprise are once again faced with the opportunity to forsake common sense by willfully accepting misdirection and disinformation presented in the guise of science,' Graham writes on the Journal of the American Medical Association's website.

An editor's note says the FDA allowed Graham to write the editorial as a private citizen, not as an agency employee. The editorial and the two studies it accompanies will run in the Oct. 4 JAMA, but they were posted online early 'because of the public health implications,' a JAMA press release says."

Bah, what's the public health worth anyway. No, seriously, how much is it worth, because Big Pharmy is leveraging it to good effect.