So you thought all those Vioxx studies in medical journals were independent, hands-off affairs? Not necesssarily. An examination of medical journal articles about Vioxx and court documents from Vioxx lawsuits found that Merck employees or ghostwriters were frequently involved in various articles, but the primary authors were often academics who actually had little to do with the studies or didn’t always disclose financial ties to Merck.
That’s the finding of an article in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association by four academics who acknowledged they have served as expert witnesses for plaintiffs’ attorneys that have filed lawsuits against Merck.
Among 96 relevant published articles, they found that 22 of 24 clinical trial articles published a disclosure of Merck’s financial support, but only 36 of 72 of review articles published either a disclosure of Merck sponsorship or a disclosure of whether the author had received any financial compensation from the drugmaker……. Read Rest Of Story
