What happens to docs who question pharma product side effects

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Did Merck Rep Try To Smear Docs And Their Wives?

December 14th, 2007 8:44 am By Ed Silverman

That's the allegation made by two Illinois doctors, who say they

received anonymous letters chastising them and their wives for

supposedly drinking too much at a dinner sponsored by Merck reps,

who retained a speaker to discuss the drugmaker's Zostavax vaccine

for shingles, according to The Springfield Journal-Register.

And the letters may have been designed to silence the docs'

questions about the vaccine's price and side effects, according to a

lawyer who spoke with the paper. So far, though the docs - Carl

Lawyer and Smelter - haven't received what their lawyer,

, calls a satisfactory reply. The wives, by the way,

are said to be health-care professionals as well, but not physicians

and their line of work isn't specified.

In court documents, the couples say handwriting on the anonymous

letters " is similar to " the handwriting of Beth Kallal, a local

Merck rep, and the docs are considering filing a defamation lawsuit,

but haven't done so yet, tells the paper. Kallal has filed

court papers denying any involvement with the letters. The couples'

assertion about her potential involvement with the letters is " based

on a few incredibly tenuous and speculative conclusions, " the

response says, according to the paper.

Kallal was one of several Merck reps at a dinner that Merck hosted

for the couples Jan. 10, according to the documents. The other Merck

reps were Casey s, Adil Ranes, Ginos and Finney, the

documents say. The dinner was designed to " educate " the docs about

Zostavax, the documents say, and featured an expert in infectious

diseases from Rush University in Chicago.

In an affidavit, Lawyer said he asked the expert about potential

cardiovascular side effects from the drug, but the expert wasn't

able to address his question. Lawyer also said Smelter told the

speaker Zostavax would be too expensive for some of his patients.

Zostavax, which is covered by some health insurance plans, costs

$150 to $190 per shot, the paper writes.

A few weeks after the dinner, the docs received copies of an

anonymous letter that apparently referred to the dinner and had been

mailed from Springfield, according to the documents. The letter,

which ends with the typewritten words, " a concerned Representative, "

contained info that the couples say is " false, defamatory and

otherwise professionally and personally extremely critical of " the

physicians and their wives.

According to the documents, the letter " makes an accusation of

excessive consumption of alcohol with the specific statement, `They

(Dr. Lawyer and Dr. Smelter) and their spouses will order huge

amounts of expensive alcohol, sometimes even ordering bottles

(hoping to take them home).' "

Lawyer said in his affidavit, " I have not consumed an alcoholic

beverage, at any time, in over 30 years. "

Asked if the letter might have been sent to persuade the doctors not

to criticize Zostavax, tells the paper that " one could reach

that conclusion. " But he says the couples won't not comment

otherwise on the documents.

The documents ask that Kallal and Forest Laboratories rep

Lyons be ordered to provide information about the letter.

says the couples decided to seek info from Lyons because drug

representatives who work in the Springfield area are " a fairly tight

community of people. " Lyons hasn't responded to the request and he

didn't return a phone message from The State Journal-Register.

Merck's media relations office also didn't return a phone call from

the newspaper.