Aranesp: Death of a blockbuster
Apr/17/2007 06:20 Filed in: Pharma
Business
Amgen
Inc.'s drug
Aranesp didn't reduce the need for blood
transfusions in anemic cancer patients and was
linked to a nearly 45% increase in deaths
compared with patients taking a placebo. That's
really bad news for Amgen the maker of Aranesp
but there are a number of issues that go a lot
deeper here. When did Amgen know and why didn't
this data show up in the initial, and ongoing,
clinical trials? Lot's of questions that need to
be answered and someone needs to be held
accountable.
Legislators in Congress are going to use the Aranesp example of things that can go wrong when bad decisions are made. Amgen's CFO has resigned, or was shown the exit, but frankly that is not enough. Did the CFO hold back the release of clinical trial information because of financial considerations of Amgen stock? If so he needs to held criminally liable as do the other people who were involved in the decision. The CEO must also be held accountable and shown the door as this type of behavior starts at the top and can be inbred through the whole organization.
How can this happen in a world where everything is transparent and paper trails are everywhere? It starts with a belief that shareholders and investors are more important than patients. It tells me that Amgen may talk the talk about patients being important but somewhere the chain broke that people believe that dollars are what drives pharma not successful patient outcomes. I'm sure that Congress is going to have a field day with this one...
The Amgen story that is coming out of Thousand Oaks is going to be a lot more damage to an industry that is already under fire from all sides. People make up a company but somewhere along the way Amgen has hired people who believe that their wallets are more important than patient health and that is beyond reprehensible.
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