GlaxoSmithKline used ghostwriting to promote Paxil - The Boston Globe

Just a quick note, as, if I had any sense at all, I should already be in the car on the way to the office, not sitting here in my jammies blogging.

In a new article in the on-line version of the paper today, The Boston Globe adds GSK to the list of pharma con artists.

GlaxoSmithKline used ghostwriting to promote Paxil - The Boston Globe

The fact that five ghost-written articles were placed in at least two prestigious professional medical journals is significant. When you perform a literature search on a medication, you would typically get a handful of review articles. If five out of that handful are bogus, that is going to significantly slant your view of the medication. Add to that the fact that most physicians do not do lit searches but rely on articles handed to them by the reps, and you have trouble.

In and of itself this is no indictment of the drug. But it does mean that your physician may not have had all the facts when she prescribed this medication for you.

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The Carlat Psychiatry Blog: Eli Lilly Posts its Grand Deception

The Carlat Psychiatry Blog: Eli Lilly Posts its Grand Deception

Funny, a client and I were just discussing pharmaceutical marketing this morning.

This one's for you, T.!

The most important part of Dr. Carlat's post is the line about medical "educators" having to use the slides the pharmaceutical company provides. Real teachers don't do that, folks.