"Bone Care Nurse"!
Too easy!!!!!
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.
The plaintiff also said yesterday in the court in Melbourne that Merck gave pharmacists incentives to recommend Vioxx to patients who were on other drugs such as paracetamol.
Merck, Sharp and Dohme and its parent company Merck & Co are being sued by more than 1000 Australians, led by Graeme Peterson, who alleges the drug caused his heart attack in December 2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment