“Indeed, wretched the man whose fame makes his misfortunes famous.”
— Lucius Accius
Bloomberg reports that, according to a sealed transcript of videotaped testimony taken for Vioxx litigation, Dr. David Graham accused FDA officials of working “hand in glove” with Merck to tarnish him.
Are you thinking “visions of grandeur?” Keep reading …
“I experienced threats, intimidation and actually what, in my view, appears to have been a very organized and orchestrated campaign to smear and discredit me,’” said Graham.
Here’s the threat — an important new job.
Graham said former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford had offered him a promotion nine days before his Senate testimony. Graham said he declined and was surprised by the timing.
“The commissioner is offering me this really high-level job with a lot of responsibility, and then one week later, he’s calling me all sorts of names in an FDA public statement that’s issued on the eve of my Senate testimony,’” Graham said.
Really? I don’t recall any name-calling by Dr. Crawford. And why didn’t Graham accept this “really high level job with a lot of responsibility?”
Why not work to make things better?
Odd? Mysterious? Nope. Just sad.
David, your 15 minutes are up.
