Singulair suicide story won't kill Merck

Implications: Singulair helps millions of people suffering from asthma. While there are a few sporadic cases of suicide and depression among the millions of patients taking singulair, no causal link has been established and there is no clear mechanism of how singulair might even cause such effects.  In fact, there were no occurrences of suicide in over 11000 subjects receiving singulair in 40  trials to date. It seems we are dealing with sporadic cases of an unfortunately common problem (suicide)  in the setting of a commonly used drug (singulair) for a common disease (asthma). While the data will be reviewed more thoroughly, I suspect that no significant association  will be uncovered, that patients will  continue taking this drug for asthma, and this story will not have significant effect on Merck sales.  

Analysis: Singulair helps millions of people suffering from asthma. While there are a few sporadic cases of suicide and depression among the millions of patients taking singulair, no causal link has been established and there is no clear mechanism of how singulair might even cause such effects.  In fact, there were no occurrences of suicide in over 11000 subjects receiving singulair in 40  trials to date. It seems we are dealing with sporadic cases of an unfortunately common problem (suicide)  in the setting of a commonly used drug (singulair) for a common disease (asthma). While the data will be reviewed more thoroughly, I suspect that no significant association  will be uncovered, that patients will  continue taking this drug for asthma, and this story will not have significant effect on Merck sales.