Milanda Rout; 19/5/09
Australian marketing staff from pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co paid specialist nurses half-a-million dollars to “hunt” through patient records for potential candidates for their blockbuster anti-arthritis drug Vioxx. The Federal Court was told the company aimed to identify 100 patients of each targeted general practitioner who were not taking Vioxx and could be recommended to take up the drug for their condition. Known as the “bone and joint care program”, the marketing initiative employed “bone care” nurses – via an independent third party – to go through patients’ records with permission of their general practitioner. A class action heard yesterday that nurses interviewed these patients, some of whom were over 60 and had osteoarthritis, about their condition and options for pain management.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25504484-2702,00.html; IN-DEPTH: More stories on the Vioxx case; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/indepth/section/0,,5018983.html