Merck MMR case ruling: "You can defraud the American people when government agencies go along with it"

An Appeals Court has ruled that it is OK for drug companies to make false claims as long as the regulators don't object. This has huge negative implications for whistleblowers going forward.

Executive summary

Andrew Wakefield produced an awesome movie, Protocol 7, documenting how Merck defrauded the US government in order to keep their vaccine on the market even though it didn’t meet the required efficacy standards.

The lawsuit had been in the courts for nearly 15 years.

It’s finally over. No more appeals will be made. Merck won, the American people lost.

Merck defrauded the FDA as to efficacy claims, but the FDA and CDC knew about the fraud but continued to buy the product anyway. The court ruled that because the FDA was a willing participant in the plan to defraud the government, it wasn’t fraud that is actionable by whistleblowers acting in the public interest to expose the fraud.

What this means is that, unless there is a change in US law, government agencies can continue to collude with the drug companies to defraud the American people and market drugs that are fraudulently marketed as safe and effective. Nobody will be held accountable.

Future whistleblowers will have their careers destroyed and have nothing to show for their work. No lawyer will take on any similar cases in the future.

There was a mainstream media blackout on the decision.

This decision is very important because it basically greenlights government agencies to conspire with drug companies to defraud the American people.

I expect that Congress will do nothing to fix this loophole because they are dependent on support from pharma companies.

Protocol 7 documents the fraud. I highly recommend this film.

The MMR case is brought to life in the movie Protocol 7 which was produced by Andrew Wakefield.

You can watch it for $10 here.

I highly recommend this film. It is riveting. Rated 4.8/5.0 stars. It’s just 90 minutes long.

You can read more about the film in this CHD article:

The court decision

The decision is covered by this CHD article: Breaking: Appeals Court Dismisses Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Merck Over MMR Vaccine.

The implications

I just got off the phone with Andrew Wakefield. He told me that the plaintiffs have decided not to appeal. So the case ends here. Merck won. The people lost.

This means the end of whistleblowing in all federal false claims cases (aka “qui tam” cases) where the government knows they are being defrauded and continue to buy the product anyway. The whistleblower cannot win. They lawyers won’t take the cases.

So this is a greenlight for government agencies to conspire with the drug companies to defraud the American people into taking drugs that are falsely represented as safe and effective to the American people.

CHD’s reaction

Attorney Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), told The Defender she was “astonished” the court could reach such a conclusion. “It’s a very sad day for justice.”

Holland said:

“The Court remarkably found that Merck’s alleged violations were ‘minor and insubstantial,’ defying logic. A decision like this makes people lose faith in courts as arbiters of justice.

“The plaintiff whistleblowers filed this False Claims Act case against Merck in 2010, over 14 years ago. They detailed outrageous fraud upon fraud by Merck, with apparent collusion by the FDA, to falsify the potency of the mumps component in the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine for which Merck held a patent.”

Summary

The laws are currently set up to favor the drug companies.

They can and do conspire with the FDA and CDC to defraud the public. US law ensures there is no accountability for their action.

Never assume that the FDA, CDC, and drug companies are telling you the truth. They don’t have any problems at all lying to you about safety and efficacy and they aren’t accountable for their actions.

Please go stream Protocol 7 right now and see for yourself how it is done. This is an important film.