Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth is under scrutiny for its practice of paying ghostwriters to draft scientific journal articles favorable to its products and publishing them under the names of academic researchers. Some of the ghostwritten reports involve Wyeth's hormone replacement therapy, Prempo, and deny the results of a federal study that linked the drug to an increased risk for breast cancer.
The inquiries come as part of the Senate Finance Committee's examination of "medical ghostwriting," part of a broader probe into the influence of drug companies on the health-care industry [Wall Street Journal].
The investigation is being spearheaded by Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who last week sent a letter to Wyeth's chairman requesting documentation of the company's ghostwriting and publishing procedures. The letter [pdf] said Wyeth's publications resembled "
subtle advertisements rather than publications of independent research" and that "any attempt to manipulate the scientific literature, that can in ...
