There is an interesting article in today's NY Times about the role that pharmaceutical companies play in getting medical research articles "ghost written" for medical researchers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/health/research/19ethics.html?ref=health&pagewanted=all This is not new but, quoting from the article: |Allegations of industry-sponsored ghostwriting date back at least |a decade, to scientific articles about fen-phen, the diet drug |combination that was taken off the market in 1997 amid concerns |that it could cause heart-valve damage. But evidence of the breadth |of the practice has come to light only gradually, most recently in |documents released in litigation over menopause drugs made by Wyeth. | |The documents offer a look at the inner workings of DesignWrite, |a medical writing company hired by Wyeth to prepare an estimated |60 articles favorable to its hormone drugs. In one publication plan, |for example, DesignWrite wrote that the goal of the Wyeth articles |was to de-emphasize the risk of breast cancer associated with hormone |drugs, promote the drugs as beneficial and blunt competing drugs. The |articles were published in medical journals between 1998 and 2005 - |continuing even though a big federal study was suspended in 2002 after |researchers found that menopausal women who took certain hormones |had an increased risk of invasive breast cancer and heart disease. And... |But bioethicists said that medical schools must take responsibility for |faculty members whose publications do not explicitly acknowledge |the work of writers receiving industry support. Such subsidized articles |allow pharmaceutical companies to use the imprimatur of respected |academics - and by extension, the stature of their institutions - to |increase sales of certain drugs, ultimately skewing patient care, they said. | |"To blow this off is not acceptable," said Dr. Ross McKinney, the director |of the Trent Center for Bioethics at Duke University Medical Center. |Duke has a policy that prohibits ghostwriting and advises faculty to keep |records of their participation in preparing scientific articles. | |"Our ultimate responsibility is to provide good care, and research is the |foundation of that care," Dr. McKinney said. "Presenting information where |the bias is not made clear is inconsistent with our mission." -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
