The US’s number 2 drugmaker is facing a jury trial after being charged with marketing its Gardasil cancer vaccine as safe in spite of evidence to the contrary.
The drug has been heavily prescribed and marketed to people ages 9-45 in the US, the EU and Australia, and deployed in developing countries via grants from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for the prevention of cervical, head, neck and other cancers caused by HPV, netting Merck a cool $8+ bln in profits 2023.
Lawyers representing a Los Angeles woman accuse the company of misleading consumers by overstating Gardasil’s benefits, and covering up side effects.
Merck’s lawyers promise to “vigorously defen[d] against these claims” and say that there’s no proof her injuries were “actually caused” by the jab.
15 November 2024, 17:58 GMT
Merck has paid out billions of dollars in damages over the years, including a $4.85 billion settlement to victims of Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug found to cause heart attacks and strokes among thousands of Americans, in 2007.
It's also been accused of criminal activities abroad, with Russia's Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces releasing thousands of documents seized in Ukraine revealing that Merck and other US and European drug companies actively tested their products on unwitting Ukrainians.