Gold rush to judgement

Between the Big Pharma and the Bush administration, it’s hard to tell where the prick ends and the asshole begins. Add to that a Supreme Court stacked with appointees happy to wiggle their tongues between the two, and what you get are pharmaceutical companies inching closer to a long-sought ruling recusing them of culpability for their rushed-to-market money-maker du jour.

Dragged into court when the fraudulent studies used to get their Ortho Evra birth control patch approved began resulting in real casualties, Johnson & Johnson turned to the legal argument of pre-emption. Pre-emption essentially means J&J can’t be sued for the 50 deaths and numerous ailments their patch has caused, because the FDA approved it. The fact that evidence shows J&J obscured data in order to make Ortho Evra appear safe doesn’t seem to be an issue to the drug merchants or the Bush administration, which insist courts have no clout over the FDA.

Pre-emption has been knocked down as a defence numerous times, but with the Supreme Court having been rebuilt in Bush’s grotesque image, many suspect the J&J case will allow newly robed neo-cons to, at last, turn the tide in the industry’s favour.

by SCOTT SAXON