LANSING – Michigan Citizen Action, in cooperation with the organization Drug Industry Immunity Must End, launched a series of radio ads this week aimed at passage of a House bill that would repeal lawsuit liability for drug companies accused of injuring or killing people with their product.
The radio spots were launched through a series of press conferences in the markets the groups will target first – Lansing, Escanaba, Jackson and Saginaw – said spokesperson Linda Teeter. All the markets are represented by Republican lawmakers.
The spot features Leslie Richter, whose husband died after two strokes she charges were related to taking Vioxx for arthritis pain. In the ad, Richter says: “As a Christian, my faith taught me to respect the sanctity of all human life. If only the big drug company that made Vioxx, a drug that killed my husband, would have had the same respect for life – my husband would still be alive today.”
Another voice comes in afterward saying that Michigan is the only state with such a law in place, something that occurred in 1996 under former Gov. John Engler. “While the drug company made more than $11 billion in sales off of Vioxx, the drug killed as many as 55,000 people according to a top Bush administration scientist, ” the add charges.
Vioxx was taken off the market by its manufacturer, Merck. It has been the subject of several lawsuits, at least one of which Merck won.
At the Lansing press conference, Richter said she is one of many Michigan residents whose lives have forever been changed, yet she has no recourse to take action against the drug company.
“I want to be his voice. We trusted the FDA to keep us safe. I don’t want other families to be hurt.”
Legislation in the House, HB 5527, which would repeal the blanket immunity, is not mentioned directly in the radio ad. The bill is currently in the House Oversight, Elections and Ethics Committee hopper, but it’s expected to be sent to the newly formed House Tort Reform Committee for a hearing.
The radio ads will run all this week, Teeter said, adding that they were paid for through member donations and that the group plans to launch more ads in additional markets in the future. She would not say how much the ads cost or how many times each day they would run, but did say, “Enough that people are going to hear.”
Ads that are running outside of Lansing specifically target the representative from that area, telling people to contact Rep. Rick Baxter (R-Concord), Rep. Leslie Mortimer (R-Horton), Rep. Tim Moore (R-Farwell) and Rep. Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba) at their capital offices.
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