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Pharma Ghostwriters Penned Medical Papers on HRT

Drug firms may play bigger role than thought in medical lit

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 5, 2009 7:20 AM CDT

(Newser) – Ghostwriters funded by a drug firm were deeply involved in writing papers supporting therapies that helped the firm’s sales boom, court papers show. The 26 scientific papers, published in medical journals from 1998 to 2005, highlighted the benefits of hormone replacement therapy over the risks, a boon to Wyeth, which paid the writers. The news hints at the extent to which drug firms may pull strings in medical literature, the New York Times reports.

Researchers later found that HRT may increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and dementia in some patients. The court papers show Wyeth paying a medical writing firm to develop articles and get doctors to sign off as authors despite minimal roles in the pieces. A Wyeth rep said drug firms often use such firms to help authors; the material, he said, was valid.

[Images (2)]

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Jeffrey Kindler, left, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, and Bernard Poussot, president, chairman and CEO of Wyeth, attend a news conference Monday, Jan. 26, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Oct. 18, 2006 file photo, the lobby of the headquarters of pharmaceutical company Wyeth is shown in Madison, NJ. (AP Photo/Mike Derer, file)

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It’s almost like steroids and baseball. You don’t know who was using and who wasn’t; you don’t know which articles are tainted and which aren’t. - Dr. Joseph S. Ross, assistant professor of geriatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

wwwonderer

Aug 5, 2009 4:41 AM CDT

And you have hit the nail on the head. Let's not pay attention to the greed and corruption that has permeated seemingly ALL sectors of commerce. ALL industries -financial, health, military, auto- are looking to maximize greed. The problem is when deception becomes life-threatening, medically or financially. Don't sell me rat poison and tell me it's aspirin.

Liberal_Fascist

Aug 5, 2009 3:27 AM CDT

While everyone's over on the political threads, flaming and name-calling, they're ignoring news of a truly evil and insidious threat in their country. What a shame.

nick

Aug 5, 2009 2:00 AM CDT

The medical drug-cartel will say and do anything to protect its monopolistic dynasty, morality issues and the patient's welfare be damned.

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Pharma Ghostwriters Penned Medical Papers on HRT