Pharmaceutical Giant Wyeth, makers of Premarin and Prempro, has admitted to paying a medical communications firm to ghost write 26 studies supporting the use of hormone replacement therapy in women, all were published in 18 medical journals between 1998 and 2005, The New York Times reported.
According to The Times, court documents uncovered by lawyers suing the drug company show how Wyeth paid ghost writers to draft the manuscripts and then got top doctors to take all the credit.
This is the latest in a string of findings about drug companies’ practice of paying ghostwriters to put together articles, but not the first we’ve heard of Wyeth paying for ghostwritten articles on hormone replacement therapy — back in December, Chuck Grassley asked the company about the practice.
Under a policy adopted by Wyeth in 2006, any financial assistance by Wyeth or contributions by medical writers must be acknowledged in the published text, the article says. None of the papers disclosed Wyeth’s role in initiating and funding the work.
Wyeth has a big presence in hormone replacement therapy, selling drugs women use to treat the symptoms of menopause. Sales of Wyeth’s hormone replacement drugs, Premarin and Prempro, reached nearly $2 billion in 2001. The field took a big hit in 2002, when a large federal study found that women who took certain hormones had a higher risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.
For YEARS companies like Wyeth have promoted the “dangers of compounded BHRT” while manufacturing Premarin. And now we find out that there are many articles that were created by ghostwriters, published by physicians, that were used as marketing fodder.
The ones calling BHRT “liars” are themselves lying!