Snow Day Can't Cancel Ketek Story
Video: At this time of year weather is an important story, particularly given the unsettling mix of all the white stuff up North, the tornadoes down South and a brewing storm headed our way in the East. Not surprisingly, as I write this, weather is leading our broadcast, part of a "A" block chock full of stories pieces on North Korea, debate over the Iraq resolution in the House, and massive mall shooting in Utah. Busy, busy.
On almost any other night the story I worked on today would have made the show hands-down. It focused on a hearing in D.C. in which an insider blew the whistle on the drug manufacturer Sanofi Aventis, and alleged fraud in clinical trials involving its controversial antibiotic Ketek. My editors thought the script was strong (me too). The debate, as often happens, boiled down to a very few degrees. Was a story about Ketek, a drug used by about three million people last year for respiratory infections, more important than weather that could alter life for millions more?
Beyond the script I argued the big picture – a major drug manufacturer accused of knowingly passing along falsified drug data to the FDA and then coaching the head of its drug trials on how to deceive agency inspectors.
Guess what? A close call. But I lost. Snowed out by a snow day.
So we did what we often do – posted the piece here on the site. Only this time you get first look. I'd be interested to know what you think.