Wyeth Lawsuit Supreme Court Ruling March 2009
Wyeth Lawsuit Supreme Ruling March 2009
Congress is investigating huge pharmaceutical company Wyeth, Inc. for its use of ghost writers who prepare scientific articles for doctors’ and/or scientists’ signatures. Additionally, the federal probe includes an investigation into Wyeth’s marketing department role in influencing manuscripts for medical journals.
The Congressional probe is another in a long line of federal examination’s of how big pharma is influencing doctors, science, the marketing of drugs, and the overall approval process of pharmaceutical products. This lates Wyeth investigation concerns payments Senator Charles Grassley said were made to prepare certain articles and for information about how doctors were recruited to place their names on those articles. According to the Wall St. Journal, “The articles, published in peer-reviewed medical journals, involved Prempro and other female-hormone-replacement therapies made by Wyeth.”
Wyeth responded to the inquiry by stating that they do indeed offer professional medical writing services to the scientists however the scientists maintain complete editorial authority and control. Their other response involved a gratuitous swipe at lawyers whom they claim to be recycling old stories. That’s strange, I don’t believe Sen. Grassley consulted lawyers prior to deciding to investigate Wyeth’s practices.