It appears that some of the medical reviews of
Merck's (NYSE:
MRK) controversial drug Vioxx were not written by doctors at all. The company found "ghost writers" to put together evaluations for medical publications. Some physicians appear to have signed those reviews.
According to The New York Times "In an editorial, JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) said the analysis showed that Merck had apparently manipulated dozens of publications to promote Vioxx."
The news marks another hideous chapter in the history of Vioxx, a drug which was found to cause heart attacks. A number of suits were initiated by patients who had suffered this side-effect.
While it is not clear whether Merck will be punished for participating in shaping reports about its own drug, the doctors involved should be charged with fraud, at the very least.
Vioxx turned out to be a dangerous drug. More detailed research may have discovered that. Even if more careful work would not have uncovered the problems with the drug, no one will ever know. The well was poisoned long before the patients taking Vioxx began to get ill.
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