Key Factor Ignored in Rezulin Deaths

Your dramatized reporting on the Rezulin deaths has a major undertone of “big-business irresponsibility” [“Rezulin: Anatomy of a ‘Billion-Dollar Blockbuster,’ ” Dec. 6].

Your writers seem determined to focus on the 33 deaths, as if the 29,999 diabetics out of every 30,000 who have an improved quality of life from taking Rezulin should be unilaterally excluded from the option of better health and insulin management.

Most older people taking Rezulin have faltering health, and diabetes itself is a killer and maimer. There is no discussion whether the people who died while taking Rezulin had generally failing health. We do not know if the physicians had followed the manufacturer’s and FDA’s warnings diligently.

It would be a sad day if large drug companies stopped developing life-extending treatments in case some unhealthy people die. Your focus on the profit made by Warner Lambert as a result of the resounding popularity and commercial success of Rezulin is misguided and irresponsible.

LEON HELFET

Camarillo