Merck officials claim the practice is not uncommon throughout the pharmaceutical industry and that Ross’s conclusion that the authors named in these publications don’t actually participate adequately is false.

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Merck’s claim is seconded by Dr. Steven H. Ferris, a psychiatry professor at New York University, who is himself listed as author on a Merck publication suspected of being ghostwritten. Ferris describes Ross’s accusations as egregious and false.

An editorial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) puts forth the question of whether Merck might have deliberately manipulated dozens of seemingly academic published documents in order to promote Vioxx under false pretenses.

Dr. Catherine D. DeAngels, editor of JAMA, says that journal published a Vioxx study in 2002 that is now in question. This particular article did list a Merck staff scientist as lead author but ghostwriters were involved, too. DeAngelis considers it a dishonest move that the work of the ghostwriters were not fully disclosed when the document was submitted for publication.

Saying she feels the journal has been scammed, DeAngelis suggests than an even less desirable practice is when a for-profit company hires a for-profit writing firm to produce scientific research studies and then finds a doctor willing to endorse it before publication.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is a nonprofit mental health watchdog. responsible for helping to enact more than 150 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive practices. CCHR has long fought to restore basic inalienable human rights to the field of mental health, including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.

Visit www.cchr.org