Fraudulent information from a major drug company prompts deaths

Fraudulent information from a major drug company prompts deaths

This is beyond infuriating. In fact, it’s criminal.

The New York Times reports that Ortho-Evra – Johnson & Johnson’s birth control patch – was supposed to deliver a lower dose of estrogen than low-dose birth control pills. But J&J representatives marketed their patch knowing that the estrogen dose was much higher than claimed, and knowing that this higher level might cause strokes or heart attacks.

And that’s exactly what happened for some Ortho-Evra users, prompting at least 50 deaths.

That’s infuriating. But there’s one more detail that pushes this criminal negligence way beyond infuriating. You really have to read it to believe it.

HSI researcher and reporter Michele Cagan recently posted an item about this controversy in her HSI On the Spot blog, which you can find at this link: http://www.hsionline.com/redir/blog.html

Look for the April 8, 2008 entry titled “Court-Sponsored Fraudor Murder?”