Archived News

March 5, 2001
For Immediate Release

OREGONIANS TRYING TO LOWER THEIR CHOLESTEROL FALL VICTIM TO POTENT POISON COCKTAIL ATTACKING MUSCLES, KIDNEY, HEART & LUNG

Baycol victims turn to courts to hold Bayer Corp. accountable for false claims, market manipulation and potency 100 times higher than competition.

Portland, OR -- A group of Oregonians, weakened by their fight for life following their encounters with the cholesterol reducing drug Baycol, have joined together in hopes that a jury can put an end to pharmaceutical roulette. When Bayer Corporation finally pulled the over hyped and under priced Baycol from shelves in August of last year it had ignored dozens consumer complaints, orders to stop false and misleading promotion and numerous deaths and devastating injury.

"Bayer Corp served up a potent and toxic cocktail that was geared toward manipulating the market and producing enormous profit," said Diana Craine, attorney for the Baycol victims. “If you survived the deadly mix, your muscles are ravaged, various organs like your heart, liver and lungs are often left damaged and your quality of life is ripped away."

By its own admission, Bayer Corp. subjected it’s 700,000 customers to the potential of rhabdomyolysis, a painful disorder that destroys muscle tissue in a matter of days. Bayer finally pulled the drug after reports linking it to 31 deaths, a number that continues to grow today.

"They prescribed Baycol and my life became a living hell," said Gerald Rowe of Salem, Oregon. "I went from playing racquetball three to four times a week to where I couldn’t even move and I gave away almost everything I had because I thought I was going to die. I stopped taking Baycol just in time. Even though I need a number of oxygen tanks to make it through the day, at least I’m alive."

In 1999, The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services cited Bayer for using promotional material for Baycol “that is false, lacking in fair balance or otherwise misleading.” Various medical journals listed Baycol’s potency anywhere from 60 to 200 times higher than it’s competition of similar cholesterol lowering drugs. Bayer then further manipulated the market by pricing Baycol well below its competition in an effort to encourage insurance companies and HMO’s to place Baycol on their list of preferred drugs.

"It’s time Bayer stood in front of a jury and looked it’s victims in the eyes,” said Craine. “Clearly the justice system is the only resource we have left to ensure consumer safety and accountability for leaving scores of sick and injured in the wake of it’s profits at any human cost credo.”

Each Oregon victim filed a separate lawsuit in either state or federal court aimed at holding Bayer responsible for it’s human damage in an attempt to ensure accountability for all future drugs coming onto the market. The Baycol recall marked the twelfth drug recall in a four year period.