The spooky reality behind drug-related "news"
Control tactics
Tricks of the trade...
..."The long and short of the process is this: A drug maker funnels a highly-educated ghostwriter
only the most flattering evidence - much of it no doubt doctored (no pun intended) - regarding a
certain patent medicine's miraculous effectiveness and utter lack of side effects. Instead of being
immediately used as toilet paper, this information is then skillfully crafted by the highly paid and
totally amoral writer into a slick article that's persuasive, thorough, and seemingly credible
enough to gull a reputable (or maybe not-so-reputable) M.D. into signing his name to it...
...as much as half of the peer-reviewed literature on any given drug is likely nothing more than
ghostwritten "infomercials" with a gullible (or morally sketchy) doctor's byline on it..."
Chris Gupta
Every once in a while, I come across a story from an obscure (or foreign) news outlet that throws
even jaded old me for a loop. And recently, a story from the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) on
"ghostwriters" has done just that...
Broadly defined, the term "ghostwriter" refers to anyone who writes something that bears someone
else's name when printed. And according to the CBC online news, it turns out that the pharmaceutical
giants are a major employer of these ghostwriters to write articles praising their drugs-while
POSING AS DOCTORS!
Now, lest you think there's anything shady going on, these articles are reviewed and given blessing
by real MDs. The fact that these doctors are then paid big bucks by pharmaceutical industry fat cats
for allowing themselves to be billed as the authors shouldn't concern anyone...
Perfectly on the up and up, right?
As if this isn't enough of an ethical quagmire, consider this: Since the articles aren't even penned
by the endorsing doctors, they likely NEVER SEE all the evidence - especially the negative findings
- on the drugs in question before signing their names to the finished pieces!
Where does this "unbiased" evidence come from in the first place? You guessed it: The completely
objective and selfless drug companies themselves...
The long and short of the process is this: A drug maker funnels a highly-educated ghostwriter only
the most flattering evidence - much of it no doubt doctored (no pun intended) - regarding a certain
patent medicine's miraculous effectiveness and utter lack of side effects. Instead of being
immediately used as toilet paper, this information is then skillfully crafted by the highly paid and
totally amoral writer into a slick article that's persuasive, thorough, and seemingly credible
enough to gull a reputable (or maybe not-so-reputable) M.D. into signing his name to it.
The scary part is that these articles then find their way into some of the biggest and most
respected peer-reviewed journals out there - like the Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine,
and the Canadian Medical Association Journal. And how's this for warped ethics: The ghostwriter gets
a huge cash bonus if the piece ends up appearing in one of these high-profile sources!
According to CBC's sources, as much as half of the peer-reviewed literature on any given drug is
likely nothing more than ghostwritten "infomercials" with a gullible (or morally sketchy) doctor's
byline on it...
How's that make you feel about filling a prescription?
Your real life ghost buster,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD