Merck rolls out spin machine to defend itself in Vioxx scandal

The risk of heart attacks and strokes for people taking Vioxx was double that of those taking the placebo. Howard Rubinstein, President of Rubinstein Associates, a New York public relations firm, stated that it will not be easy for Merck to salvage its reputation.

• Merck & Co.'s campaign to defend itself in the wake of the recall of the pain reliever Vioxx intensified as it placed a package of three full-page ads in seven prominent newspapers beginning last Friday.
• That follows several television appearances as well as testimony before Congress by the company's chief executive.
• But public relations experts are calling the campaign predictable and said it lacks a crucial element necessary to bolster Merck's claims that it acted responsibly and timely in removing Vioxx from the market: Parties with no self interest or financial ties to the company coming to its defense.
• "When people read ads, they discount them because they know the company paid for them," said Howard Rubenstein, president of Rubenstein Associates, a New York-based public relations firm whose crisis-management clients have included Christie's International PLC and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. "What they did was appropriate, sure.
• Rubenstein added that Merck's strategy of asserting it withdrew Vioxx immediately upon learning there was a link between the drug and a higher risk of heart attack and strokes could backfire if plaintiffs' lawyers prove the company understood the side effects much earlier and stifled the news.
• That's because if lawyers prove Merck muzzled Vioxx's risks, the company may be forced to pay punitive as well as compensatory damages.
• Estimates of Vioxx's legal costs have varied widely, reaching from $4 billion to $18 billion.
• But Rubenstein said even if Merck can survive financially, any proof that it put profits in front of patients would devastate its already tarnished reputation.
• "This is a public relations nightmare," said Rubenstein, who added that Merck's reputation has fallen among numerous groups, including doctors, patients, scientists and investors.