A while back we wrote about Merck, the big drug company, in a pieced called Full Disclosure.
Like other big drug companies, Merck faces its difficulties generating growth owing to patents expiring on some of its big revenue generators and lack of new drug development.
Still another problem looms with its number one seller, Januvia, an oral hypoglycemic to treat diabetes. Recent research at UCLA apparently poses questions about the drug's safety. In this case, the issue is whether Januvia causes pancreatic cancer or pancreatitis
At least one other drug in this class, not from Merck, has been reported to cause cancer in men. Pebbles that fall into water cause ripples. And Merck is not alone since other major drug companies also produce similar drugs for diabetes.
That's the potential downside.The upside for Merck is a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine about Merck's
new cancer drug for melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer.
More studies are scheduled but the US Food and Drug Administration last month called the treatment a "breakthrough therapy."
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/06/02/health-cancer-melanoma-merck-idINL2N0EE00320130602
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