Editoral slams Bayer on hiding drug side effect information Posted by Liz at 10/04/06 07:50 PM

In yesterday's editoral, the NY Times writes that Bayer's excuse for hiding serious side effect information on a widely-used drug doesn't hold much weight. "Bayer A.G.’s limp excuse for withholding data suggesting that a heart-surgery drug is dangerous won’t wash. The failure by the German pharmaceutical giant to inform the Food and Drug Administration of the disquieting results of a large observational study cannot be sloughed off as a mere “mistake on the company’s part.”

Bayer says that it withheld the results of a study of its drug, Trasylol, because the results were preliminary and the company had questions about the methodology and populations of patients.

Hiding serious side effect information?..Same story, different drug company. Bayer's actions should be no surprise to anyone. We cannot trust drug companies to voluntarily release negative results of drug studies to the public. This editoral has it right, "This incident underscores the importance of requiring drug companies to publicly register all safety studies so that they can’t be suppressed later should their results displease the sponsor."

comments (3)

1 Posted by Elyse at 11/01/06 11:11 AM

I hate it, the way that Bayer has been used and everyone else has been used, too. They didn't tell the truth!! My lawsuit against Baycol aside. They didn't tell the truth.

2 Posted by Pedro at 11/01/06 12:08 PM

Same old story. My Sister is a sales rep for Lilly Pharmaceuticals and is directed by the company to downplay side effects or not even mention them.

3 Posted by Meriam Uze at 11/01/06 03:48 PM

Bayer never warned us about the serious side effects of aspirin either. It was only after I stopped eating because the sight of food made me nausaus that a gastroenterologist discovered the sores in my stomach that were bleeding. I had taken aspirin for arthritis and for headaches. When the headaches did not recede, I would take another aspirin and the headache got worse. Had I known about the side effects, I would have known to stop using aspirin.