I have spoken on this before, but bears repeating.
In the late 1990s the pharmaceutical company Merck announced a new anti-inflammation medication called Vioxx. It was a particularly good drug for arthritis and such joint pains. After being released in 1999 it quickly became one of the most popular anti-pain medications around due to not some other issues the likes of Aspirin or Paracetamol had and quickly became a massive success generating some 2 Billion in profit for Merck.
In September 2004 Merck suddenly announced they were gonna recall it, and put a stop to production. This came after they became aware that a big journal was about to publish a massive peer-reviewed study with large amounts of data and the help of a senior FDA official backing it showing that this anti-pain drug had a very large chance of increasing the risk of fatal strokes and heart attacks on people using it. Again: this was a drug being given to elderly people in particular, who already are at risk of such. Data on the study proved that Vioxx was provably linked to at least some 55 thousand deaths since it entered the market in 1999 until the paper was finished in mid 2004.
Merck knew Vioxx was possibly dangerous. They had internal data from as early as 1997 pointing to issues. They ignored the data, the concerns of their own labcoats and instead went ahead with the new product with a massive ad campaign and push to capitalize on the aging population and the need for a better pain medication.
There were of course lawsuits, big drama, but very little of substance. The entire thing did not actually get that much traction on the media. A eerie calm over the knowing endangerment of so many people, maybe it didn't really feel real or it was hard to prove now that Vioxx was responsible for granny's stroke so long after she was buried.
A few months after the recall, a small article was published on the USA Today newspaper having to do with some new statistics published for the year of 2005 by government statistic people. "USA Records Largest Drop in Annual Deaths in at Least 60 Years.” During 2005, American deaths had fallen by 50,000 despite the growth in both the size and the age of the nation’s population. Government health experts were quoted as being greatly “surprised” and “scratching [their] heads” over this strange anomaly, which was led by a sharp drop in fatal heart attacks.
Sixty thousand Americans died fighting in the Vietnam War, the vast majority of them being Baby Boomers. Vioxx and Merck killed at least that many boomers of the same generation in a single year, and no one gave a shit. And those are just the easy numbers from the provable deaths in a year, it is impossible to know how many other deaths from strokes and heart attacks in the USA in the period of 1999 to September/October 2004 were directly caused by a use of Vioxx. The most conservative estimates put the number of deaths from Vioxx at 200 thousand, with higher estimates going as far as half a million dead from it.
The Merck stock tanked following the drama, but simply recovered. The company was the target of lawsuits, but nothing really came from it with most of the money being pocketed by the lawyers and most of those affected by the death of loved ones likely never even knowing about the issue or not even being close to able to go along with the justice system to demand some sort of retribution.
Ironically enough, the suits and such drama would almost fully end at around the same time the scandal of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family were exposed for over-prescription of addicting opioids for pain and the massive issues it caused. Unlike Merck they went with just selling regular hard and addicting drugs and relying on getting their customers addicted to make money.
Remember this every time some faggot demands you accept medical and pharmaceutical claims and pushes without question because "muh sciens".