NEWS

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 11, 2004 - 3A

ON CAMPUS
Women's advocate
to discuss stem
cell research
The founder and executive direc-
tor of the Boston Women's Health
Book Collective, Judy Norsigian,
will speak about the repercussions
that stem cell research has for wom-
en's health today from 4 to 5 p.m.
in room 2239 of Lane Hall. The col-
lective is a nonprofit, public interest,
women's health education, advocacy
and consulting organization.
Tribal court judge
to address child
welfare issues
Chief Judge Joseph Martin of the
Saginaw Chippewa tribal court will
speak about the Indian Child Wel-
fare Act today in Hutchins Hall from
11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Martin will
also explain the typical day of a trib-
al court judge. This event is part of
Native American Heritage Month.
Poet will read her
work at the Drum
Carmen Bugan, author of "Cross-
ing the Carpathians," will be reading
from her new book of poetry today at
7:30 p.m. in Shaman Drum Bookstore.
Bugan has won a Hopwood Award and
a Cowden Memorial Fellowship at the
University for her poetry.
CEO brings advice
for entertainment
careers
Happy Walters, founder and chief
financial officer of Immortal Records,
will speak tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:30
p.m. in Davidson Hall, Room D1276 in
the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Walters will speak about how to start a
career in the entertainment industry.
CRIME
NOTES
Bicycle stolen from
Frieze Building
A caller reported his bicycle was
stolen from the Frieze Building
Tuesday evening, DPS reports. The
bicycle was locked to a bike rack.
Jacket stolen from
NCRB
A student reported that her jacket
was stolen from the North Campus
Recreation Building Tuesday night,
DPS reports. The jacket was left
unattended in the women's locker
room. There are no suspects.
Cash taken from

hospital
Caller reported that money was
taken from a wallet in the C.S. Mott
Children's Hospital Tuesday morn-
ing, DPS reports.
THIS DAY

Embattled CEO defends decisions

Gilmartin discusses recall of

a

By Alex Garivaltis
Daily Staff Reporter
Although the Sept. 30 withdrawal of
arthritis drug Vioxx caused Merck shares
to shed 42 percent of their value, Chief
Executive Officer Raymond Gilmartin
maintains the voluntary move bolstered
the company's moral capital.
Internal research now shown that
patients who used Vioxx were at a greater
risk of experiencing heart problems. The
drug accounts for $2.5 billion of Merck's
annual revenues.
Gilmartin, 63, discussed the decision to
withdraw the drug yesterday in a lecture at
the Ross School of Business.
Amid estimated legal liabilities at
upwards of $12 billion and a Moody's
Investor Services credit downgrade on
Merck's long-term debt, Gilmartin is in a
tough spot.
But Gilmartin said the decision to recall
Vioxx was a reflex.
"I told my people that the only bench-
mark they were to use in evaluating this
decision was patient safety," he said. He
said the order freed his scientific teams to
look at the data in an objective way.
Gilmartin said he was shocked when
he was informed of the drug's side effects.
"This was totally out of the blue."
He said that although some Merck
insiders urged him to inform the FDA of
the findings and keep Vioxx on the mar-

ket, he acted decisively, withdrawing the
drug within a week.
Gilmartin said Merck is proud of its
history of high ethical standards. "George
W. Merck said medi-
cines are for people, "I told my
not profit - and the
more we focus on that the c
that, the more the
profit will roll in." benchma
After taking the
reinsin 1994,Gilmar- were to u
tin said within a year
he had established evaluatiq
the company's first decision
ethics office. He said
Merck had estab- pnatient
lished numerous eth-
ics systems during his
tenure - including a - Ra)
confidential phone
number employees
can call for advice
concerning their ethical dilemmas.
Merck's commitment to ethical
behavior goes beyond complying with
U.S. and international laws, he said.
"As Plato put it, good people do not
need laws to tell them how to behave
responsibly; bad people always find a
way around the laws."
Gilmartin said Merck's code of ethics
is displayed in 25 different languages at
company headquarters in Trenton, New
Jersey. "Over time, ethical behavior turns

rthritis drug
into a competitive advantage," he said.
At the lecture's end, Gilmartin fielded
questions from the audience. "Don't hold
back - it's not often that you have a phar-

people
only
rk they
.se in
g this
was
afety."
ymond Gilmartin

maceutical CEO
in your crosshairs,
so to speak," he
said.
One of the audi-
ence members
alleged the Vioxx-
related death toll
numbers in excess
of 100,000 and
likened that num-
ber to "warfare,
not medicine."
Although his
face reddened
visibly, Gilmar-

Merck CEO tin said the man's
numbers were
wrong, calling
them "absurd." He reiterated that Vioxx
was withdrawn within a week after the
new studies became available.
Business School student Rob Sch-
neider said, "I'm impressed with how
he responded to that question." Sch-
neider said Gilmartin was "an excellent
speaker."
The capacity audience, mostly Busi-
ness School students, treated Gilmartin to
a loud and spirited ovation after he con-
cluded remarks.

Merck CEO Raymond Gilmartin speaks about business ethics at Hale Audi-
torium in the Ross School of Business yesterday.

DeRoche to be new GOP House speaker

LANSING (AP) - Republicans
who will control the Michigan
House for a fourth consecutive term
in January formally elected Rep.
Craig DeRoche as the next House
speaker yesterday.
DeRoche, who two years ago was
a member of the Novi City Coun-
cil, will become the head of the
110-member
House in Jan-
uary. That's "I plan to w
when the GOP
majority will the gc
drop by five
from 63-47 don't thm
to 58-52 then any ne
based on Nov.
2's elections. to ag
DeRoche,
34, was elected politica
to his second
two-year term the pa
this month. Hel
will be the sec- COuld
ond consecu- state of N
tive speaker
elected after
serving only - C
one term.
House
Speaker Rick
Johnson (R-
LeRoy), wasRfirst elected to the job
in 2000 at the end of his first term.

He was re-elected in 2002 after help-
ing Republicans pick up five seats.
Johnson couldn't run for re-election
this year because of term limits.
DeRoche said he's going to focus on
improving the state's struggling econo-
my and cutting government spending.
He also said he's committed to work-
ing with Democratic Gov. Jennifer

iork with
overnor, I
k there s
eed for us
gressively,
illy divide
irties that
Ihurt the
Michigan."

Granholm.
"I plan to work
with the gover-
nor, I don't think
there's any need
for us to aggres-
sively, politically
divide the parties
that could hurt
the state of Michi-
gan," he said at
yesterday night's
private leadership
elections.
DeRoche
appears to be the
youngest House
speaker since
Midland County's
Gilbert Currie,
who was 30 when
he took the job
in 1913, accord-
ing to information
ruse Republicans. He
e first speaker from

Novi native will
Oakland County since 1867, House
Republicans said.
DeRoche
picked up enough
support from his
House GOP col-
leagues in the
weeks before
this month's gen-
eral election to
win the speaker's
post.
A few other
Republicans cam- DeRoche
paigned to be the
next speaker, including Bill Huizenga
of Zeeland and Mike Nofs of Battle
Creek. But they dropped out of the race
when support for DeRoche grew.

r

DeRoche's bid to be the next
speaker got a big boost a few
months ago when a few conserva-
tive Republicans, including Scott
Hummel of DeWitt and Leon Drolet
of Macomb County's Clinton Town-
ship, announced their support.
"I like Craig's philosophy," Hummel
said. "He's going to give the commit-
tee chairmen the authority to run bills.
That hasn't always been the model....
Some members feel irrelevant."
Drolet said House Republicans are
looking to DeRoche to stand up to pop-
ular Democratic Gov. Jennifer Gran-
holm and fight harder than Johnson
for Republican ideals, including lower
taxes and less government.
"We need to do a better job at saying

'no' and proposing alternatives," Drolet
said. "This is an important moment for
Republicans. If we don't do a lot of
things right, we could take a hit in two
years and possibly lose the majority. I
think Craig is the right guy to put us in
the right direction."
House Republicans, also were
expected to decide yesterday on the
caucus's No. 2 position. Reps. Chris
Ward of Brighton and Gary Newell of
Saranac campaigned to be the Repub-
licans' next floor leader, who helps set
the agenda in the House and runs bills
in the chamber.
House Democrats voted last week
to re-elect House Minority Leader
Dianne Byrum of Onondaga as their
leader after she led the caucus to a

head state House in January


I

He

aig DeRoche
ouse Speaker
compiled by Ho
also may be th

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In Daily

History

Contraception
serves as 'morning
after pill' at UHS
November 12, 1992 -A drug pre-
scribed by the University Hospital
to students as a "morning after pill"
was not approved for that use by the
U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration.
The drug, Ovral, was approved by
the FDA only as a contraception, but
UHS prescribed it in high dozes to
act as emergency contraception.
UHS officials said despite the
fact that the drug was not officially
approved, it does not preclude them
from prescribing it for such purposes.
While some questioned whether
the University should be prescrib-
ing the drug, Carol King, the execu-
tive director of Michigan Abortion

Miami
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