Times Story on Rezulin Wins 1998 IRE Award

Times staff writer David Willman’s report on the federal government’s questionable “fast-tracking” of a so-called miracle drug is among the top winners of the 1998 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards, it was announced Friday.

Willman’s two-part series, on Dec. 6 and 7, reconstructed the Federal Drug Administration’s speeded approval process for the diabetes drug Rezulin and uncovered high-pressure lobbying, attempts to silence critics and 33 deaths of people who had taken the medication.

By the time Willman had nailed the story down, sales of the Warner-Lambert drug were approaching $1 billion. The Times disclosed Thursday that the deaths of 155 Rezulin patients have been reported to the FDA since the drug went on the market in March 1997.

Other top winners include Time magazine reporters Donald Bartlett and James Steele for their in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar federal subsidy program for American corporations, and authors David Protess and Rob Warden for their book documenting their efforts to free innocent men from prison.

Among others honored Friday was CBS-TV Channel 2 News in Los Angeles for its broadcasts showing how government agencies responsible for regulating health care were unwilling to close illegal and dangerous clinics and markets.

The winners also include the Record in Hackensack, N.J.; the Advocate in Baton Rouge, La.; the Courier-Post in Camden, N.J.; CBS Network Evening News, KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City and journalists at seven Indiana newspapers: the Tribune-Star in Terre-Haute; the Evansville Courier, the Times of Northwest Indiana, the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, the Star Press in Muncie, the South Bend Tribune and the Indianapolis Star and News.