Vioxx ghost writers

[Skeptic Ginger]

An interesting, related story, that might prove that they (Big pharma) are not all that bad (although the motives behind the decision they made could be questioned), here

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article659095.ece
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6577591

Pfizer lost $800 Million on this drug before it even came to market.

TAM

The problem of introducing new drugs to take the market share of existing successful markets is supposed to lead to better products. But because capitalism isn't the perfect thing Libertarians believe it to be, sometimes trying to grab market share leads to bad drugs being introduced rather than better drugs. A company may not want to admit failure after a certain level of investment in R&D. The competition to get in on both the Viagra market and the statin market has been fierce. The bad statin introduced in 2006 that you link to is a good example why market incentives are not sufficient alone and business often needs regulating.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I heard the NPR interview with Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, JAMA's editor-in-chief, this evening. Very interesting and she mentioned knowing about it for years including the fake conference presenters.

Here's the interview:

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/04/18/03