Voices

‘The medication [Rezulin] is something that really does add value to patients. We’ve tried to be very highly responsible in everything that we’ve done.’

--Dr. Robert L. Zerbe

Warner-Lambert official

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‘They [government officials] are not supposed to be consultants to drug companies.’

--Dr. George J. Galasso

Retired NIH official

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‘To not deal honestly and candidly is a recipe for disaster. I think to a man, everybody in this organization has taken the issue very seriously.’

--Zerbe

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‘The company believes this breakthrough therapy, once approved, could become one of the largest-selling pharmaceuticals it has ever marketed.’

--Warner-Lambert

annual report

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‘I couldn’t tell you for sure. We knew there were liver-function abnormalities from the drug. But no one was concerned about it.’

--Dr. Richard C. Eastman

NIH diabetes researcher

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‘The patient subsequently died, apparently due to complications unrelated to the study or the medication.’

--Warner-Lambert announcement

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‘No one, I don’t believe, is saying the drug could have played no role in the [liver] failure. . . . That’s serious enough in itself and worthy of concern. But ultimately my assessment would be, the death was not due to that, it was due to another complication, perhaps related to the surgery.’

--Zerbe

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‘Parke-Davis had put a real spin on a high-profile death. It was absolute garbage.’

--Dr. David S.H. Bell

Diabetes specialist

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‘I’m glad to see that the drug continues to be on the market and available for people to use it.’

--Eastman