It seems that Merck and Sanofi-Aventis are having extreme trouble on both sides of the ocean. French authorities are putting both of them on trial for manslaughter – firing a shot over the bow of the most corrupt industry on earth.

Congress is already investigating both Merck and Sanofi-Aventis. Merck is involved in a blatant fraud that has powered 5 billion in yearly sales of the cholesterol drug Vytorin. At the same time Merck is trying to bring closure to its Vioxx lawsuits after the drug killed at least 50,000 Americans while Merck hid safety data. Sanofi-Aventis is being grilled over the Ketek debacle as they knowingly accepted fraudulent clinical trial data and consequently exposed children to an antibiotic that caused liver failure and death. FDA complicity and weakness is a common theme running through these scandals.

French authorities are now investigating a joint venture between Sanofi-Aventis and Merck called Sanofi-Pasteur MSD which markets the anti-hepatitis B drug vaccine, as they have allegedly failed to fully disclose deadly side effects from the vaccine. A young women died after getting the vaccine, resulting in the manslaughter charges.

The problem with the current Bush Administration is that it encourages and condones the behavior of Big Pharma and the FDA and is adamantly behind preventing US citizens from suing drug companies when they have been injured – the exact opposite of what is needed to get to the bottom of this huge problem. If drug company execs knew they would be up on manslaughter charges in the United States when they hide death-related data the problem would stop.