How Merck and Drug Regulators Hid Serious Harms of the HPV Vaccines
By (Author) Peter C. Gtzsche
Skyhorse Publishing
Skyhorse Publishing
26th November 2025
United States
General
Non Fiction
Family and health
Hardback
288
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
481g
This is a story of scientific misconduct, committed by Merck, the fourth biggest drug company in the world. Merck has committed scientific misconduct before, and the author describes the fraud related to Merck's arthritis drug, Vioxx, which killed tens of thousands of patients because Merck concealed that it causes heart attacks.
In his role as an expert witness in a lawsuit against Merck, Dr. Peter C. Gtzsche read112,452 pages of confidential study reports about Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil, corresponding to 500 medium-sized books, and wrote an expert report of 350 pages with four appendices. Dr.Gtzschereveals that Merck used numerous tactics to avoid reporting serious neurological harms of Gardasil, including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), which, in his view, in some cases constituted outright fraud.
How Merck and Drug Regulators Hid Serious Harms of the HPV Vaccinesdetails how the drug agencies were complicit in scientific misconduct and gives many examples that other authorities also provided seriously misleading information about the benefits and harms of the HPV vaccines.
Dr.Gtzsche gives a rare insight into the behavior of drug company lawyers when a company comes under attack for having concealed serious harms of its drug. He describes how he was harassed by Merck's lawyer who tried toimpugn his character and scientific credibility in ways, which included setting up traps for him during his deposition. If anyone was in doubt whether Merck and our authorities can be trusted, this book gives the answer.
Peter C. Gtzsche Is professor emeritus, physician, and a bestselling book author. His scientific works have been cited over 190,000 times. He is the only Dane who has published over 100 papers in "the big five" journals (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, and New England Journal of Medicine). He has also appeared on The Daily Show. He currently works as a researcher, lecturer, author, independent consultant, expert witness in lawsuits, and produces films and interviews, in collaboration with Danish award-winning filmmaker and historian Janus Bang.