EMSA OF THE FUTURE

Quote












Anonymous said:
Has anyone seen the most recent Trust and Value or Employee Engagement survey results for EMSA? Just curious.
Click to expand...
The whole survey is contrived and rigged. It is not scientific and nor objective. It is selectively used. What is the purpose for giving feedback when nothing changes. The bad managers continue to survive. Make a list of all changes besides downsizing of EMSA? Wonder why Murray is being paid his big salary and bonus. Does anyone know what value he brings internally and externally?
 






Murray is such a poor manager of people and during these difficult times cannot be trusted. His ADD and lack of knowing what goes on and gaming the system for his own purpose is not working.
 






Merck Changes Safety Procedures, Pays in Vioxx Suits (Update1)
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By David Voreacos and Jef Feeley

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. agreed to settle shareholder lawsuits over the withdrawn Vioxx painkiller by strengthening its drug-safety procedures, appointing a new chief medical officer and paying $12.2 million in legal fees.

Merck would appoint one committee to address risks that require immediate action and another to monitor the safety of drugs, the company said in a regulatory filing. Merck would also amend its code of conduct to promote scientific and academic integrity as well “honest communication” with doctors.

“In all research endeavors that are sponsored by Merck, we will refrain from attempting to influence inappropriately the results and conclusions of such research,” according to the amended code. “We strive for all communications with the medical community to be accurate, truthful and consistent with labeling.”

Merck withdrew Vioxx in 2004 after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The company won 11 of 16 Vioxx suits at trial before agreeing in 2007 to create a $4.85 billion settlement fund to resolve thousands of injury claims over the drug. Plaintiffs’ experts said Merck distorted the health risks of Vioxx in medical literature, advertisements and statements to doctors by sales representatives.

On Dec. 16, Merck announced the appointment of Dr. Michael Rosenblatt, the dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, as chief medical officer and executive vice president. He had served as the Tufts dean since 2003.

Preliminary Approval

The settlement, which won preliminary approval from a New Jersey state judge on Feb. 8, would resolve all so-called derivative lawsuits, which are for the benefit of the company rather than just shareholders. An approval hearing is scheduled for March 22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Merck “believes this is the best and most appropriate way to resolve these suits and enable the company to put this matter behind it,” said Ron Rogers, a spokesman for Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

The settlement, which covers federal and New Jersey state shareholder cases, isn’t an admission of wrongdoing on the part of Merck or the executives named in the suit, Rogers said. The company will be required to make corporate governance changes and “supplement existing policies and procedures,” he said.

Misled Doctors

In testimony videotaped in 2006 for the Vioxx trials, Harvard Medical School professor Jerry Avorn said Merck failed to conduct adequate studies of Vioxx’s risks before launching it in 1999 as an alternative to painkillers that caused more stomach bleeding. Merck also misled doctors about a 2000 study that showed Vioxx caused five times more heart attacks than another painkiller, naproxen, he said.

“There was a pattern of what I would characterize as systematic distortion that rose almost to the level of grotesque,” Avorn said in a tape played in federal court in New Orleans. “It was an embarrassment for me as a member of the medical profession that this was going on in presenting information to doctors in such a one-sided and lopsided way.”

One Merck study designed to show Vioxx was easier on the stomach than an older painkiller was actually a marketing tool to boost sales, according to a 2008 report in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, known as Advantage, was a trial of 5,557 patients started in 1999, just as Vioxx was cleared for sale.

The study, which recruited 600 doctors, was crafted by Merck’s marketing department, according to researchers who reviewed 100 internal company memos and reports.

‘Masquerading’

The Advantage study “was marketing masquerading as science,” the lead author of the Annals report, Kevin Hill of Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a 2008 interview. “They went about this in a very analytic way, picking doctors who would be most influential, who will talk to other doctors and recommend Vioxx to them, and thus increase prescriptions in the area, planting the seeds of additional Vioxx use.”

Under the settlement announced yesterday, Merck would submit results of clinical trials to a public registry, with its compliance overseen by an independent third party.

The chief medical officer will have an “executive voice” on product safety issues independent of Merck Research Laboratories. Rosenblatt will serve as Merck’s “medical ambassador,” report to Chief Executive Officer Richard Clark and serve on the executive committee, according to Merck.

To contact the reporters on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net; Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at jfeeley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 10, 2010 13:30 EST
 






Well all that was in the old useless Merck. In the new Merck all is fixed.


Operating Ethically and Transparently

We strive to apply the highest standards of ethics and integrity to everything we do. Our efforts to be more transparent about our operations include:

Grants: Ongoing education for healthcare professionals is important and required. We often make grants to U.S. organizations that provide independent, professional education initiatives for physicians, including accredited continuing medical education (CME). Merck has no influence over the content of these courses. These grants are posted on merck.com.
Relationships with physicians: Merck interacts regularly with physicians to share information about the newest medicines and treatments, as well as hear about patients' experiences with our products. We disclose payments to healthcare providers who speak on our behalf in the United States. We also have endorsed pending legislation that mandates disclosure of certain financial relationships between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry.
Clinical trials registration and disclosure: Conducting clinical trials is a critical step in determining if our products are safe and effective. We register our trials online when studies are initiated to make patients and healthcare providers aware of these trials. We also make study results of marketed products–regardless of the outcome–available following study completion. More
Social and environmental responsibility: Our transparency efforts also extend to other important aspects of our operations such as our environmental performance, our efforts to expand access to our medicines and vaccines around the world and our progress on diversity in the workplace. Data on these and other key performance indicators are available in our latest corporate responsibility reports:
Merck’s 2008 Report
Merck’s 2008 Report Online
Schering-Plough 2009 Report on Safety, Health and Environment


Political contributions: Merck is committed to participating constructively in the political process and to disclosing information about our political contributions.
We were among the first companies to follow the Center for Political Accountability's Model Code of Conduct for Corporate Political Spending.
We annually post information on our Web Site about our corporate political contributions in the United States, Australia and Canada.
Merck also discloses any contributions to committees known as 527 organizations.
Merck provides an opportunity for U.S. employees to participate in the political process by joining a non-partisan political action committee. Except for administrative expenses, the Merck Employees Political Action Committee (Merck PAC) is completely funded through voluntary contributions from eligible Merck employees. View information about Merck PAC contributions on the U.S. Federal Election Commission's Web site.
 


















Granowitz and Murray how much more crazy can it get. Suggestions, Murray enroll into anger management program and send Granowitz into school to understanding and deal with adults in a professional environment.
 


















Grany knows how to exploit opportunities and a great self promoter. He shut down cme and grants process and made himself a winner. Not sure if these were all good business decisions with sales going south. Agree he is a nut case but knows how to push and make people uncomfortable and do difficult task of taking work out of the system. And played a big role in eliminating 22 mil of expenses and lots of jobs to help dress Schering for a sale. You can say he has no emotional IQ.
 






Anonymous said:
Grany knows how to exploit opportunities and a great self promoter. He shut down cme and grants process and made himself a winner. Not sure if these were all good business decisions with sales going south. Agree he is a nut case but knows how to push and make people uncomfortable and do difficult task of taking work out of the system. And played a big role in eliminating 22 mil of expenses and lots of jobs to help dress Schering for a sale. You can say he has no emotional IQ.
Click to expand...

How do individuals like these survive and succeed in these times!
 






Anonymous said:
Grany knows how to exploit opportunities and a great self promoter. He shut down cme and grants process and made himself a winner. Not sure if these were all good business decisions with sales going south. Agree he is a nut case but knows how to push and make people uncomfortable and do difficult task of taking work out of the system. And played a big role in eliminating 22 mil of expenses and lots of jobs to help dress Schering for a sale. You can say he has no emotional IQ.
Click to expand...

Granowitz is an exploiter and self promoter extrodinaire. He may have shut down grants but a lot of the dollars shifted back, paid directly by marketing teams. They have to live with the results, he doesn't.

Hopefully it didn't hurt Saphris too bad nor will it adversely affect launch of respiratory combo. Adam says we need these to be successful. Time will tell.
 






GMA is a very frustrating work environment. One one side of the issue, the marketing team controls all resources and therefore the decisions. I feel uncomfortable and share my concern that we are not disclosing that there is lack of independence and influence from the commercial side. Lot of wink wink stuff going on which senior management is aware of. On the other side, if there are no marketing resources allocated then we will not have any project work nor our jobs. This is a big area to sort out as part of CIA which management is not addressing.
 






Anonymous said:
GMA is a very frustrating work environment. One one side of the issue, the marketing team controls all resources and therefore the decisions. I feel uncomfortable and share my concern that we are not disclosing that there is lack of independence and influence from the commercial side. Lot of wink wink stuff going on which senior management is aware of. On the other side, if there are no marketing resources allocated then we will not have any project work nor our jobs. This is a big area to sort out as part of CIA which management is not addressing.
Click to expand...

With The CIA in place I cannot belive this stuff is happening. This certanly cannot be true?
 












Anonymous said:
GMA is a very frustrating work environment. One one side of the issue, the marketing team controls all resources and therefore the decisions. I feel uncomfortable and share my concern that we are not disclosing that there is lack of independence and influence from the commercial side. Lot of wink wink stuff going on which senior management is aware of. On the other side, if there are no marketing resources allocated then we will not have any project work nor our jobs. This is a big area to sort out as part of CIA which management is not addressing.
Click to expand...

Interesting interpretation. If you feel there is a lot of wink and nod going on and lack of independence then you should report it and bring it to BP&C. The external auditors required by the CIA know the system including funding, review the activities and randomly audit activities. They don't wink and nod, they ask specific and direct questions and want answers. More importantly, if you actually work in the area you would have to attest to the independence of the things you work on. Your certification of lack of independence would be reported to a number of people including the auditors, so the responsibility is on you. Please join the others who have already reported lack of independence, sought out BP&C and legal and stopped those activites. They're still around and have lots to do, in fact, some view them as leaders.
 






Agree! Do NOT put yourself or the company at risk by going along with ANYTHING you think is in violation of our CIA agreements. Just bring your concerns forward in an objective, constructive and professional manner and seek clarification. Maybe your perceptions are wrong and you need to be educated on our current processes OR maybe they are right and we need to make some more changes to ensure we are complying fully with our CIA and intended compliance goals. Either way, you need to bring your concerns forward so the issues can be identified and addressed in a timely manner.
 












Top Bottom
Back
Quote