Critics say Ketek's side effects of liver damage were known to its maker, Sanofi-Aventis, early in clinical trials but were covered up. The drug has been blamed for the death of four patients and the liver damage or failure in 37 other patients since 2004.
Internal FDA emails that surfaced during the investigation show that at least four FDA safety officials, Dr David Graham, Dr Charles Cooper, Dr David Ross and Dr Rosemary Johann-Liang, had voiced serious concerns about the safety of the drug.
"I tried to argue that given Aventis's track record in which they have proven themselves to be nontrustworthy that we have to consider the possibility that they are intentionally doing a poor job of collecting the postmarketing data to protect their drug sales," Dr Cooper said in an email.
"It's as if every principle governing the review and approval of new drugs was abandoned or suspended where telithromycin is concerned," Dr David Graham wrote in an email that recommended Ketek's "immediate withdrawal."
"We don't really know if the drug works;" he said, "no one is claiming it works better than other, safer drugs; and we're flying blind as far as safety goes, except for our own A.D.R. data that suggests telithromycin is uniquely more toxic than most other drugs."
In May 2006, Dr Johann-Liang called for a halt to tests of Ketek in children with ear infections, arguing that cutting the duration of ear pain by one day was hardly worth risking death.
The FDA's actions in regard to Ketek are being investigated by Senator Charles Grassley's (R-Iowa), Senate Finance Committee, and by Representatives, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, and Henry Waxman of California, ranking Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee.
In May 2006, the lawmakers released a statement that said although "the FDA has consistently assured the public of Ketek's safety and efficacy, public documents obtained and examined by Representatives Markey and Waxman's staff indicate that the approval process for this drug was seriously flawed."
As Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senate Grassley has called for a "major overhaul and a culture change at the highest levels" of the FDA. In a May 1, 2006, press release, he noted concerns over the FDA's complicity with the drug maker and its subsequent failure to ensure the integrity of a study on the benefits and risks of Ketek.
The Senator called it "mystifying" on May 16, 2006, that the FDA would continued to provide information that it knew was fraudulent, and warned that he planned to keep the pressure on the FDA to provide more information about Ketek's approval and post-market surveillance.
According to Dr Graham, Ketek is at least as toxic to the liver as three other drugs that have been pulled off the market and the FDA's original approval of the drug was based on a study that FDA officials knew was fraudulent.
"It's no surprise to learn that the FDA didn't listen to Dr. Graham on the dangers of Ketek," Senator Grassley was quick to point out. "The FDA has made it their business to discredit Dr. Graham and others who aren't willing to cater to the drug companies," he noted.
In October 2001, doctors began enrolling subjects for the Ketek clinical trial known as Study 3014, and were paid $100 for each patient that signed up. The participating doctors would also receive another $150 when the study results were submitted, and a final $150 when all questions related to the study were resolved, according to the May 1, 2006, Wall Street Journal.
On July 24, 2002, drug maker Aventis submitted the results of the study to the FDA, but when FDA officials submitted the study to the advisory committee for review, they did not disclose that the Division of Scientific Investigation and Office of Criminal Investigation was investigating the integrity of the study.
The misconduct that took place during the clinical trials is so serious that critics say it calls the validity of the entire study into question. For instance, the doctor who signed up the 3rd highest number of patients, was in a chronic state of cocaine addiction while conducting the clinical trial, and was arrested and found to have cocaine hidden in his underwear, while holding his wife hostage with a gun, the same month the study results were submitted to the FDA.
Another doctor who participated in the study was totally disqualified as an investigator and prohibited from conducting any clinical trials in the future, and another who signed up 150 patients was cited for 20 violations of the study's instructions.
Internal FDA emails that surfaced during the investigation show that at least four FDA safety officials, Dr David Graham, Dr Charles Cooper, Dr David Ross and Dr Rosemary Johann-Liang, had voiced serious concerns about the safety of the drug.
"I tried to argue that given Aventis's track record in which they have proven themselves to be nontrustworthy that we have to consider the possibility that they are intentionally doing a poor job of collecting the postmarketing data to protect their drug sales," Dr Cooper said in an email.
"It's as if every principle governing the review and approval of new drugs was abandoned or suspended where telithromycin is concerned," Dr David Graham wrote in an email that recommended Ketek's "immediate withdrawal."
In May 2006, Dr Johann-Liang called for a halt to tests of Ketek in children with ear infections, arguing that cutting the duration of ear pain by one day was hardly worth risking death.
The FDA's actions in regard to Ketek are being investigated by Senator Charles Grassley's (R-Iowa), Senate Finance Committee, and by Representatives, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, and Henry Waxman of California, ranking Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee.
In May 2006, the lawmakers released a statement that said although "the FDA has consistently assured the public of Ketek's safety and efficacy, public documents obtained and examined by Representatives Markey and Waxman's staff indicate that the approval process for this drug was seriously flawed."
As Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senate Grassley has called for a "major overhaul and a culture change at the highest levels" of the FDA. In a May 1, 2006, press release, he noted concerns over the FDA's complicity with the drug maker and its subsequent failure to ensure the integrity of a study on the benefits and risks of Ketek.
The Senator called it "mystifying" on May 16, 2006, that the FDA would continued to provide information that it knew was fraudulent, and warned that he planned to keep the pressure on the FDA to provide more information about Ketek's approval and post-market surveillance.
According to Dr Graham, Ketek is at least as toxic to the liver as three other drugs that have been pulled off the market and the FDA's original approval of the drug was based on a study that FDA officials knew was fraudulent.
"It's no surprise to learn that the FDA didn't listen to Dr. Graham on the dangers of Ketek," Senator Grassley was quick to point out. "The FDA has made it their business to discredit Dr. Graham and others who aren't willing to cater to the drug companies," he noted.
In October 2001, doctors began enrolling subjects for the Ketek clinical trial known as Study 3014, and were paid $100 for each patient that signed up. The participating doctors would also receive another $150 when the study results were submitted, and a final $150 when all questions related to the study were resolved, according to the May 1, 2006, Wall Street Journal.
On July 24, 2002, drug maker Aventis submitted the results of the study to the FDA, but when FDA officials submitted the study to the advisory committee for review, they did not disclose that the Division of Scientific Investigation and Office of Criminal Investigation was investigating the integrity of the study.
The misconduct that took place during the clinical trials is so serious that critics say it calls the validity of the entire study into question. For instance, the doctor who signed up the 3rd highest number of patients, was in a chronic state of cocaine addiction while conducting the clinical trial, and was arrested and found to have cocaine hidden in his underwear, while holding his wife hostage with a gun, the same month the study results were submitted to the FDA.
Another doctor who participated in the study was totally disqualified as an investigator and prohibited from conducting any clinical trials in the future, and another who signed up 150 patients was cited for 20 violations of the study's instructions.
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