We all by now know that Merck Chairman and CEO Ken Frazier is leading the oversight of the investigation into "who knew what, and when?" -- at Penn State. Even so, this is pretty bold -- from this morning's Wall Street Journal breakfast -- do watch the middle portion (about two minutes in):
Per Mr. Frazier, this morning:. . . .This does not define the institution [Penn State]. . . so, too with Merck -- Vioxx® did not define us. . . .
Without knowing all the Sandusky facts (and given that he waived a preliminary hearing this morning), I'd be very careful about equating these two -- in any fashion (even along the Frazier-suggested lines). There can be no way to know whether the Sandusky matter will be more devastating to Penn State than Vioxx was -- to Merck. Time will tell, but this really caught me off guard.
