The extent of Wyeth’s ghostwriting practices

Many of the academic articles supporting the ill-fated drug PremPro were written by a medical consulting firm, using drafts from company executives.

Authors would put their names on the papers “only after outlines or drafts of the articles were already written.” It’s a pretty effortless way to buff up the resume.

It also goes to show that there may be too many marginal medical journals, for some to accept ghost-written articles. Perhaps some consolidation is in order.

Doctors who were contacted about signing their names to ghost-written articles brushed off the controversy. Lila E. Nachtigall, director of NYU’s Women’s Wellness Center was particularly sassy: “It kind of makes me laugh that with what goes on in the Senate, the senator’s worried that something’s ghostwritten. I mean, give me a break.”