Medical Papers by Ghostwriters Pushed Therapy (for women)

[ensho]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/health/research/05ghost.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


Newly unveiled court documents show that ghostwriters paid by a pharmaceutical company played a major role in producing 26 scientific papers backing the use of hormone replacement therapy in women, suggesting that the level of hidden industry influence on medical literature is broader than previously known.

The articles, published in medical journals between 1998 and 2005, emphasized the benefits and de-emphasized the risks of taking hormones to protect against maladies like aging skin, heart disease and dementia. That supposed medical consensus benefited Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company that paid a medical communications firm to draft the papers, as sales of its hormone drugs, called Premarin and Prempro, soared to nearly $2 billion in 2001.

But the seeming consensus fell apart in 2002 when a huge federal study on hormone therapy was stopped after researchers found that menopausal women who took certain hormones had an increased risk of invasive breast cancer, heart disease and stroke. A later study found that hormones increased the risk of dementia in older patients.

-snip-

The court documents provide a detailed paper trail showing how Wyeth contracted with a medical communications company to outline articles, draft them and then solicit top physicians to sign their names, even though many of the doctors contributed little or no writing. The documents suggest the practice went well beyond the case of Wyeth and hormone therapy, involving numerous drugs from other pharmaceutical companies.

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woman as 'patsy'

[KittyWampus]

1. and now they target young girls with Gardasil despite the fact the vaccine is only worthwhile

for women over 20.

Note- I am NOT anti-vaccine nor am I against Gardasil being given to WOMEN.

WOMEN who can actually benefit from the vaccine.

Young girls, on the other hand, do not benefit from the vaccine. Young women have bodies that are scientifically proven to spontaneously rid themselves of the virus. After about the age of 20, this changes.

[enlightenment]

4. I had not heard of the study about spontaneous shedding

of the virus - do you have a link (or cite or something) handy? I looked, but the only study I found indicated that while there is a drop in infection, it does persist as a 'reservoir' in young girls.

I'm not challenging your statement - I'm just curious to read the other study.

Thank you.

[NashVegas]

2. Repeat After Me: "No Proven Link"

Is a phrase that should cause one to and examine the motives of anyone who uses it to defend a pharmaceutical practice.

Word of the connection between HRT and cancer was all over alternative news & journalistic resources as far back as the late 1980s, and such claims were repeatedly met with scorn and laughter until the 2002 study.

[Warpy]

3. It makes me glad I dug my heels in and refused HRT

a couple of years before the studies came out showing links to cancer and little benefit beyond temporary relief of some symptoms. I had long suspected a link with some cancers simply from observation over my years as a nurse.

I'm not surprised they were doing this shit. After all, it was only women and old, ugly women at that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Any evidence of wrong doing?

Because ghostwriting is common and not unethical.

There's a whole industry of freelance medical and science writers out there.

[crickets]

6. Quelle surprise. Makes you wonder about all the other nostrums pharmas are pushing. K&R -nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. They left us with the perception that HRT was like the fountain of youth

[TexasObserver]

8. recommend