Category: Work

The decision on VIOXX was announced this afternoon while I was sitting here in Charlotte, preparing for Yet Another Migration Weekend.

From everything I’ve read about the case, there were three questions that had to be answered in the affirmative for the outcome to turn out how it did. Did Merck market a defective product? Was there adequate warning that the product was defective? And was the product considered unreasonably dangerous, such that the benefits outweighed the harm? The jury answered yes to all three.

Nonetheless, I had long considered the plantiff’s case to be a weak one. The individual at the heart of the case, Bob Ernst, died of arrhythmia, not a heart attack. That the coroner who performed the autopsy now states that it is likely he died of a heart attack, not arrhythmia, some three years later seems flimsy to me. She then engages in true speculation, stating

Ernst probably had a heart attack because a clot blocked the blood flow in an artery that was already clogged with plaque. She also said CPR conducted on Ernst probably dislodged the clot.

Merck loses a case based entirely on the speculation of the individual who performed the autopsy some three years later gave while on the stand. There’s nothing, at least reported by the media, that indicates there’s any concrete proof behind the claim.

Given the result, it looks like anyone who took the pill should hop on the lawsuit bandwagon as a quick way to make a million or two. All you need is someone who can testify that Vioxx caused your stubbed toe, and you’re good to go. Why let some form of proof get in the way?

And so I’m back in Charlotte for another weekend. As exciting as our building is down here, I’m hoping I have an opportunity to see something else besides a large room with no windows.

A worm is currently attacking Windows 2000 machines around the world. Microsoft at its finest.

Among companies affected by the worm and its variations were ABC, CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times and Caterpillar Inc. In California, San Diego County said it needed to cleanse 12,000 computers of the bug. ABC News producers had to use electric typewriters Tuesday to prepare copy for their “World News Tonight” broadcast, according to spokesman Jeffrey Schneider.

Here at work, we’re beginning our patching across our entire environment to try to prevent infection. The sooner the better, since one infection point tends to spread so rapidly in these cases.

For the second time in four weeks, I’ll be spending a weekend down in our new data center in Charlotte. Not that I objerct; I volunteered to head down and coordinate our migration from Charlotte that weekend. Still, it is my hope that this weekend does not turn out like the previous weekend I spent in Charlotte.

Last time, we boarded the flight to Charlotte about a half hour late. After we left the gate, we spent another hour on the runway in Newark before taking off. All this guaranteed us arriving in Charlotte two hours late, ensuring that all the restaurants in the area had closed, so that we missed dinner completely. Friday was a 12 hour workday, with a midnight dinner and some fun after. Saturday was even longer, with us working twenty-one straight hours, from 9 a.m. until 6 a.m. Sunday. And Sunday itself lasted almost another 12 hours. After dinner, I finally collapsed at about 2 a.m. in time to catch a few hours rest before heading to the airport…where our flight was delayed another 3 hours.

I was told the weekends would be relatively boring. I’m hoping the August 19th weekend lives up to that billing, because the last time around it was anything but.

It’s nice to know that your employer’s drug, recently pulled from the market, is a leader in spam-related e-mail.

I’ve been out of the office for over ten days. Tomorrow marks my first day back since before I left for London, and quite honestly, I’m not looking forward to it.

For the first half of next week, I’ll be in Philadelphia in training, so that should balance everything out.

I hate the week after network-password-change day.

Checking my e-mail from work, I’ve had a bad week. The worst part? I wasn’t actually there.

As publically stated, the current plan is to redeploy staff associated with Vioxx to other areas where possible while “eliminating” staff that could not be redeployed. At the moment, a large scale headcount reduction isn’t planned. Of course, this can change in an instant, and the rumor mill will be alive and well over the next few weeks to months.

Of course, everything posted here is my own opinion. Since I don’t know anything about anything and have no official capacity to know anything, what I doesn’t reflect any official policy or program.

With today’s announcement that Merck will be voluntarily taking Vioxx, one of its five key products worth $3 billion in annual sales worldwide, off the market, it makes a fitting time to resume the Layoff Watch. With the quarterly earnings report coming up on October 21st, idle chitchat turns to the obvious question: will we all still be here in a few months?