Medical Research

The drug maker Merck drafted dozens of research

Studies for a best-selling drug, then lined up prestigious doctors to put their names on the reports before publication, according to an article to be published Wednesday in a leading medical journal.
The article, based on documents unearthed in lawsuits over the pain drug Vioxx, provides a rare, detailed look in the industry practice of ghostwriting medical research studies that are then published in academic journals.
The article cited one draft of a Vioxx research study that was still in want of a big-name researcher, identifying the lead writer only as “External author?”
Vioxx was a best-selling drug before Merck took it off the market in 2004 over evidence linking it to heart attacks

I was a medical librarian for 20 years

There are several types of medical writing. Ghost writing could be a Godsend or a crime depending...
Most medical writing is in medical journals. Much of it is turgid and DULL! A good rewrite by a qualified science writer would be the best thing that could happen to about 70% of these turds. No problem here.
Physician / researchers are paid a LOT of money by drug companies to write up and publicize clinical trials and other research on drug comparisons. The vast majority of this work is strong science. Researchers will not accept money to falsify results and they will not shrink from reporting negative results

Medical Disclosure Riles Professor

Thomas P. Stossel, a professor at Harvard Medical School and member of the Board of Trustees of the corporate-funded American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), accuses medical journals and regulators requiring conflict of interest statements from doctors of bowing to the "preaching by anti-business activists." "Medical journals waste space on meaningless compilations of who receives what payments from companies and dubious 'social science research' purporting to prove that most doctors lack the intelligence or character to be wary of promotional claims," Stossel complained. Kirby Lee, from the University of California, San Francisco disagrees: "Such requirements may frustrate clinicians and researchers but, in doing so, will help to ensure the safety and welfare of the public,...