This has been going on for years. Sadly, I've also been part of studies that have been published with "skewed" results....when reading studies like these or anything else, you should always ask yourself who will benefit/lose from this information.
Vioxx studies used drugmaker ghostwriters
Two new reports raise concerns about influence over medical research
updated 3:11 p.m. ET, Tues., April. 15, 2008
CHICAGO - Two new reports involving the painkiller Vioxx raise fresh concerns about how drug companies influence the interpretation and publication of medical research.
The reports claim Merck & Co.
frequently paid academic scientists to take credit for research articles prepared by company-hired medical writers, a practice called ghostwriting. They also contend Merck tried to minimize deaths in two studies that showed that the now withdrawn Vioxx didn’t work at treating or preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
Merck called the reports in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association false and misleading.
Five writers of the articles were paid consultants for people who sued Merck over Vioxx’s heart and stroke risks; the sixth testified about Merck and Vioxx’s heart risks before a Senate panel. Merck says those connections makes the reports themselves biased
While Merck is singled out,
the practices are not uncommon, according to JAMA’s editors. In an editorial, they urge strict reforms, including a ghostwriting crackdown and requiring all authors to spell out their specific roles.
Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, JAMA’s editor-in-chief, said those are already policies at JAMA but not at many other journals.
'Manipulation is disgusting'
“The manipulation is disgusting. I just didn’t realize the extent,” she said.
The practices outlined in JAMA can lead editors to publish biased research that can result in doctors giving patients improper and even harmful treatment, she said.
DeAngelis said doctors, medical researchers and journal editors bear some responsibility for those harms.
“We’re the ones who have allowed this to happen. Now we’ve got to make it stop,” she said.
