Why'd companies report so late?

It has been reported that the big pharmaceutical companies Merck and Schering-Plough reported that the popular cholesterol lowering drug Zetia (and a pill that contains it, Vitoryn) "failed to slow the buildup of artery-clogging plaque, raising questions about its use."

They got the results of their two-year trial in April of 2006, yet for some reason missed their own deadlines for reporting their findings.

Perhaps they were concerned with the adverse side affects -- like losing hundreds of millions of dollars for selling a useless drug.

That would certainly cut into their available funds to lobby Congress for even more favorable laws to keep drug prices high, wouldn't it?

Ken Glassman

Arlington Heights