New York Medical Malpractice

Merck essentially created a scientifcally and ethically questionable study for Vioxx. The Wall Street Journal reports:

Merck has agreed to pay $58 million to settle allegations by a few dozen states that the company used deceptive advertising to promote Vioxx. That’s relatively small potatoes considering Merck has put up $4.85 billion to settle thousands of personal-injury claims over the discontinued painkiller.

But a detail in the states’ deal caught our eye: The company has agreed to “no longer engage in ‘ghostwriting,’ ” says this statement from the Pennsylvania AG.

Wait, didn’t we just hear something about ghostwriting and Vioxx? Oh, right, it was just last month, when this JAMA article said some published Vioxx studies were writted by uncredited ghostwriters hired by the company.

I can’t believe that Merck use dubious and deceitful ghostwriting tactics to promote its product. I’m glad to see that this being resolved legally, rather than being swept under the rug.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 4:02 pm and is filed under product liability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.