Why you should care about this medical ghostwriting scandal

Dear Heart Sisters,

Has anybody been following the New York Times disclosure recently about this Wyeth Pharmaceuticals/ medical ghostwriting scandal?

In a nutshell, NYT revealed that Wyeth hired a New Jersey medical ghostwriting company called Design Write Inc to write 26 'scientific papers' based on Wyeth -funded 'research'. These papers were then submitted to medical journals by med school academics and researchers who claimed that THEY were the authors of the articles. No mention of the ghostwriters or Wyeth money was mentioned, of course.

The 26 articles were very favourable reviews of Wyeth's hormone replacement therapy drugs Premarin and Prempro, suggesting that these HRT drugs improved aging skin and reduced chances of heart disease, breast cancer and dementia. Drug benefits were emphasized, risks were ignored. The journal articles worked. Sales of these two drugs alone shot to $2 billion, by far the most popular HRT drugs on the market and Wyeth's biggest selling products. It was a win-win: Wyeth sells more drugs, shareholders get rich, happy drug reps get big bonuses at Christmastime - and the physicians/researchers get to add one more title to their all-important list of published papers on their CVs, all without actually having to do the work.

Well, along came the Women's Health Initiative, a massive independent and federally-funded HRT study that was stopped three years in because they were finding alarming INCREASES in heart disease and breast cancer in women who were on Wyeth's HRT drugs.

Wyeth is now facing over 8,400 lawsuits from women alleging they were harmed by the drugs.

Almost every day, the New York Times, the Toronto Star, the Wall Street Journal and other investigative journalists reveal yet another appalling new fact about this fraudulent medical journal ghostwriting scandal.

All of us who are now taking Plavix or ACE inhibitors or blood pressure meds or beta blockers or blood thinners or anti-depressants or any other drug prescription should be appalled too. We have no way of knowing if our meds were prescribed based on tainted medical journal articles and incomplete research or not.

I am feeling so appalled, in fact, that I decided to move some of my ghostwriting scandal rants from my little Heart Sisters blog over to a new site I'm calling:
The Ethical Rant: Medical Ethics for the Easily Swayed.

Please check it out at http://www.carolynthomas.wordpress.com
and see what you think.

Warning: this stuff is pretty sickening so don't read it on a full stomach. Aaarrrrggghh.....

Meanwhile, I'm also still working on Heart Sisters, my little blog about women and heart disease (which is fun and games compared to all this ghostwriting madness)

http://www.myheartsisters.org

XOXOXOX

By grace5
Posted September 7, 2009 at 10:20 am
Report post

Hi Carolyn, I am as incensed by these revelations as you obviously are. I've been aware of this for a while, it truly is appalling and has made me even more wary and sceptical of any new research announcing yet another 'wonder drug'. Ghost writing, coupled with Google now filtering information that their sponsors would rather we didn't know about makes it even harder to find out the truth. The scariest part for me is that medical journals such as the Lancet and BMJ publish these articles for our doctors to read, believe, and then pass on the information as factual to us mere mortals, meanwhile, as you've pointed out, we're all merrily swallowing pills we really can't be sure are doing what we've been led to believe they do, without causing us harm. Scary stuff.
Thanks for your post, it's time we were all made aware of the goings on in this business, it's not about helping people, it's all about increasing the size of bank accounts and egos .
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/04/050414201152.htm

Lidia xx

By martzj
Posted September 7, 2009 at 11:12 am
Report post

"The Ethical Rant: Medical Ethics for the Easily Swayed."

hahahaha!! Catchy title Carol...wish it weren't true though.

Guess I should feel lucky my system immediately rejected Plavix, all anti-depressants, ACE inhibitors, NSAIDS. Never even considered HRT for a minute.

Off to read your rant now : )

Nice work,
Jaynie

By martzj
Posted September 7, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Report post

"But five months after Dr. Leo blew the whistle, JAMA published an ever-so-slight correction admitting these financial ties, along with this stunner: the clinical trial in question actually showed that there was essentially no difference between taking Lexapro or just talk therapy alone for effectively treating depression."

http://carolynthomas.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/lexapro/#more-60

I'm leaving a comment here Carolyn because I have committed to spending time on this WH discussion board.

LOL on the killer graphics! Ouch....JAMA is one of the first med journals I peruse with any regularity. (a colleague is the science artist) They also have a JAMA podcast now.

Lexapro was the last of a long line of SSRI type anti-derpressants that harm me by creating immediate adverse reactions of intense agitation, crawling skin, anxiety off the charts and 3 or more days w/o a wink of sleep. I've never seen this acknowleged adaquately in any journal, including JAMA. But this class of drugs alters brain chemistry...mine, for the worse. It takes months to calm down. ALL my doctors just blank stare when I tell them. Guess it isn't matching the medical lit they are given huh.

Good work including all parties involved (and they are legion). No shortage of 'reachable' doctors via $.

You have just given me an idea that may save my life in case of future heart attack. I need to write a brief of my own, about MY reactions to all SSRIs and even newer 'alternative meds' like Abilify. These meds are passed out like candy, and while they seem to help the general population, they are possibly deadly to people with brain chem configurations like mine. Vallium causes agitation after it wears off so that I'm unnecessarily miserable during the healing phase when I should be resting, but have to deal instead w nonstop skincrawling agitation and shredded jumpy nerves. I'm writing up a document stating what meds I refuse to take and the legal actions I will pursue if I am given any of those meds without my knowledge and permission.

Enjoying your articles....one by one.

Jaynie

By Kennarina
Posted September 7, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Report post

Excellent idea about the list of No-No drugs, Jaynie. You could carry this with you next to your 'In Case of Emergency' and Medical Insurance cards - and then pass out the list to your family JUST IN CASE.

I am feeling sick about this whole mess - the more I read, the sicker I feel. Maybe I should stop reading..... ;-)

XOXOXO

http://www.myheartsisters.org

http://www.carolynthomas.wordpress.com

By joyce114
Posted September 7, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Report post

Appalling but not surprising! Big business has always been in the "drivers seat". I have always wondered why certain doctors prescribe certain drugs. Only one answer...."kick backs" perhaps???? I now am thinking that doctors truly aren't advocates for patients but for the drug manufacturers. Every piece of literature and commercial on television now list a single line of "indications and benefits" while paragraphs list all the side effects, many even mentioning "death". So why do we continue to take these harmful medications? Who can we trust? Perhaps going back to remedies past generations used is a possible answer. How about the foods we eat providing ways to reduce blood pressure or cholesterol? My blood pressure was always in the 90's over 60's until last year when it shot up to the 160's over 80's. I started with one medication for palpitations and chest pain and then all of a sudden 5 months later they added 4 additional meds!! I now take a blood pressure pill from each of the categories=ACE inhibitor, beta blocker, calcium channel blocker and diuretic! I don't know why because my clinic never explained. My fault....I should have asked questions. I must admit, however, that my blood pressure has dropped into a "normal" range when I take them; when I stop the pressure climbs back up quickly. Why can't we have one medication that is effective? Why is it necessary to have such a variety of pills that doctors can "choose" from? We need to tell our government to stop the competition and profits for these manufacturers. Their gain is often the public's loss. What ever happened to the word ETHICS???? I am not quite so sure any more that we have the best health care. When you see BIG BUSINESS capitalizing off the people needing medical treatments, there is a BIG PROBLEM! Maybe we can make a difference by getting our voices out there.

By Kennarina
Posted September 8, 2009 at 1:02 am
Report post

The dilemma here is that for many people, medications are a true lifesaver. Those with diagnoses like diabetes, AIDS, asthma, migraines, ulcers, epilepsy, chronic pain, and yes heart disease would be dead or desperately ill without these important life-saving drugs. Cancers that were once death sentences - thanks to drug advancements in the past few decades, now have remarkable longterm survival rates. And antibiotics alone save countless lives every day.

I sure wouldn't like to turn the clock back to when we didn't have any of these medicines, but the staggering amount of money to be made by Big Pharma today makes corruption and flawed research almost inevitable - unless government, universities and medical journals do a complete crackdown, thanks to the media who are now all over these scandals.

And ordinary patients like us! We more than anybody else, should be mad as hell over this scandal, and determined to keep the pressure on so this doesn't fade away, as the drug companies are hoping it eventually will.

As much as I'm tempted to 'punish' Big Pharma by tossing out all my own prescription drugs, I'm not at all sure that this is a wise thing to do either!

What a dilemma....

XOXOXO

http://www.myheartsisters.org

http://www.carolynthomas.wordpress.com

By Lois_Trader
Posted September 8, 2009 at 10:38 am
Report post

All great info but who can read all this and stop taking their meds? I talked my head off in therapy but needed help. Lexapro was a life saver. Plavix or the newer drug Effient to keep our blood thin. All amazing info but what meds are you taking. We have to have an alteranive or we just get upset and mad. Which is bad for our heart disease. Lois

Welcome to Inspire!

Explore topics in this discussion:

8 replies

Add to the discussion

Group leaders

You