Merck Compiles Dossiers on Doctors

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"I didn't realize how powerful the drug companies thought they were," said health policy professor Lisa Bero, regarding Merck's campaign to silence a prominent physician critical of their painkiller Vioxx. According to documents obtained by NPR, Merck first approached Stanford University's Dr. Gurkirpal Singh in 1998. The drug company paid Singh up to $2,500 for each talk he gave to other physicians about Vioxx. But when Singh became concerned about a 2000 study suggesting Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks, the relationship turned sour. Merck tracked Singh's public comments on Vioxx, eventually contacting his bosses at Stanford and hinting "there would be repercussions ... if Singh's statements didn't stop." Merck provides significant research funding to Stanford, a common arrangement between drug companies and universities.