Wyeth in US Senate ghostwriting probe

A US senator has accused Wyeth of having journal articles about its hormone therapy products ghostwritten and then signed by the authors. In a letter to the US drug major, Sen Charles Grassley (Republican, Iowa) suggests that the practice of having manuscripts developed by a drug company either by itself or through a third-party could lead to biased information.

Sen Grassley wrote that "some medical literature may be subtle advertisements rather than publications of independent research. The information in these articles can have a significant impact on doctors' prescribing behavior and, in turn, on the American taxpayer, because the Medicare and Medicaid programs pay billions of dollars for prescription drugs. Thus, any attempt to manipulate the scientific literature, that can in turn mislead doctors to prescribe drugs that may not work or cause harm to patients, is very troubling."