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Authors of Fosamax study had ties to Merck |
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Tuesday, 09 January 2007 |
A leading research journal has revealed that a recent study about the health benefits of the osteoporosis drug Fosamax was funded by manufacturer Merck & Co., raising questions about the accuracy of its findings. The study, “Effects of Continuing or Stopping Alendronate After 5 Years of Treatment,” claimed that Fosamax would continue to prevent bone loss for five years in patients who stopped taking Fosamax after five years of treatment.
However, the Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study, has revealed that several of the study’s authors were Merck employees or had financial ties to the company. The journal also admitted that Merck had a role in funding, designing and writing the study and that the final article was reviewed by Merck employees before it was allowed to be published.
Merck’s role in the Fosamax study raises even more questions about a drug which has already faced serious safety questions. The drug has been linked to a condition known as osteonecrosis of the jaw, or jaw necrosis, which can caused the death of jawbone tissue. There have been about 2,400 cases of jaw necrosis reported since 2004, mostly among patients who had used Fosamax or a similar osteoporosis drug. Osteonecrosis of the jaw can lead to severe pain and may make it necessary to completely remove the jaw to treat the disease.
A number of patients who have developed osteonecrosis of the jaw have filed Fosamax lawsuit against Merck. These patients have claimed that they were not warned about the risk of Fosamax side effects before they began taking the drug, despite the fact that Merck was aware that Fosamax could cause osteonecrosis of the jaw. |