The drug company executives were overjoyed when the results of a 2010 landmark cholesterol study were released. The study determined that twenty million MORE people should be taking cholesterol lowering drugs (statins). Amazingly, the market for statins artificially doubled overnight. (I’m sure the pharmaceutical executives were quick to pop their champagne corks and call their shareholders with the news.)

Astoundingly, the study, called JUPITER, was funded by none other than Astrazeneca, the drug company that makes Crestor, one of the most popular statins.

So the obvious question is…How can research to determine the need for a particular type of drug, be funded by the same people who stand to make huge sums of money from the sale of that drug? Unfortunately, it happens all the time. But the weird thing is that the whole medical community seemed to look the other way and embrace this study as gospel when it first came out. That was until it was reviewed by independent researchers.

As it turned out, a review of this study came out in the Archives of Internal Medicine and it was reported that the benefits of statins were “over-stated” in the study and that the dangers of these drugs were “underemphasized”; meaning, twenty million more people may not need these drugs after all. (Sad for stockholders but happy for all the livers this may save.)

Another case in point: In 2004, an FDA executive named Dr. David Graham exposed Merck Corporation, the makers of the once popular arthritis drug Vioxx, because he found that research showing the dangerous side effects of the drug was being purposely suppressed by Merck with help from the FDA.

 Merck’s own research showed clearly that Vioxx substantially increased the risk of heart attack but never let this research get into the hands of the public. Years went by while thousands upon thousands of innocent people died of heart attacks while taking Vioxx. (The number is estimated to be over 50,000.)

Graham’s testimony in front of the U.S. Senate landed him on the front page of every paper in the country. This event was called the biggest pubic health scandal in history and Dr. Graham has been recognized as one of the most important and influential whistleblowers of the past decade. His actions saved thousands of lives. The kicker to this story is that although Merck had to pay out 4 billion dollars in lawsuit damages, they still made a total of 11 billion in sales of Vioxx over the years. Do the math.

So do all pharmaceutical companies suppress research and put the public at risk? And are there some FDA executives in the pockets of the drug companies? I’ll let you be the judge. But when it comes to trusting an entity that stands to gain so much by duping the public, you have to be real skeptical to say the least.