Summary of John Abramson's Sickening

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The author was sent a heartbreaking note from a woman who had seen her on television discussing safety issues associated with Vioxx and Celebrex, two widely used pain relievers. She asked if she could review her daughter’s medical records.

#2 As the Palmer family struggled with their loss, one of the world’s largest drug companies was dealing with a crisis of its own. On September 30, 2004, Merck pulled its blockbuster Vioxx off the market.

#3 The two articles that defended Vioxx were published in the world’s most prestigious medical journal, the NEJM. But when I read the fine print, I was shocked to discover that both authors had financial ties to Merck.

#4 I realized that the information in the NEJM could not be trusted. I searched for the data behind an article I’d read in the Washington Post, which reported that a JAMA article claiming to show that Celebrex caused fewer serious GI complications than older over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs was also based on a misrepresentation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669354659

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on John Abramson's Sickening

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The author was sent a heartbreaking note from a woman who had seen her on television discussing safety issues associated with Vioxx and Celebrex, two widely used pain relievers. She asked if she could review her daughter’s medical records.

#2

As the Palmer family struggled with their loss, one of the world’s largest drug companies was dealing with a crisis of its own. On September 30, 2004, Merck pulled its blockbuster Vioxx off the market.

#3

The two articles that defended Vioxx were published in the world’s most prestigious medical journal, the NEJM. But when I read the fine print, I was shocked to discover that both authors had financial ties to Merck.

#4

I realized that the information in the NEJM could not be trusted. I searched for the data behind an article I’d read in the Washington Post, which reported that a JAMA article claiming to show that Celebrex caused fewer serious GI complications than older over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs was also based on a misrepresentation.

#5

The FDA had sent a warning letter to Merck in September 2001, calling their marketing of Vioxx misleading. The company continued to purchase hundreds of thousands of reprints of the NEJM article and hand them out to doctors, repeating the same marketing claims that the FDA had expressly forbidden them to make.

#6

The COX-2 hypothesis states that older anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen work by suppressing a single enzyme, cyclooxygenase, which catalyzes a cascade of events leading to inflammation. However, these drugs have the unfortunate tendency to cause stomach symptoms and, occasionally, serious GI complications like bleeding or perforated ulcers.

#7

I was invited to speak at a Harvard Medical School-sponsored Continuing Medical Education program about the risks of Vioxx, and the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine were present. I was apprehensive about how they would react to my