NEWS RELEASECommittee on Energy and Commerce
|
For Immediate Release:
January 22, 2008
Contact: Jodi Seth or Brin Frazier, 202-225-5735
|
Dingell, Stupak Continue ENHANCE Trial Inquiry
Question Merck, Schering-Plough on Advisory
Board and Employee Stock Sales
Request Information, Records from CMS
Washington, D.C. – Rep. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, today wrote to the CEOs of Schering-Plough Corporation and Merck & Co, Inc., and to Kerry N. Weems, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), requesting information about the ENHANCE study trial. The ENHANCE study compared the brand-name drug Vytorin to the generic drug simvastatin, both of which are used to treat patients with high-cholesterol. The study results show that Vytorin, which is a combination of Zetia and the generic simvastatin, resulted in no significant difference when compared to simvastatin alone.
The Committee on Energy and Commerce began an investigation into the ENHANCE trial on December 11, 2007. The investigation was launched following concerns that, although the ENHANCE trial ended in April 2006, the data had not yet been released. The results were recently released on January 14, 2008.
Letter to Health and Human Services »
Letter to Schering-Plough Corporation and Merck and Co., Inc. »
- 30 -
 Prepared by the Committee on Energy and Commerce |
