FAIR Blog » Merck http://www.fair.org/blog The national media watch group Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:42:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Big Pharma's Big Deception http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/05/15/big-pharmas-big-deception/ http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/05/15/big-pharmas-big-deception/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 14:52:00 +0000 Gabriel Voiles http://www.fair.org/blog/?p=8890 Medical librarian blogger Laika Spoetnik (Laika's MedLibLog, 5/8/09) has taken a long look at the international media "tsunami" generated by the Australian paper's one sentence on "a fake Elsevier/Merck journal. It says: 'The drug company also allegedly produced an entire journal--called the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine--and passed it off as an independent peer review publication.'" Among Spoetnik's findings:

  • It had the looks of a peer-reviewed medical journal, but contained only reprinted or summarized articles
  • Most of the articles presented data favorable to the Merck products Fosamax (for osteoporosis) and Vioxx...

  • There are several ads for Fosamax and Vioxx
  • It is unclear who wrote the editorials...
  • There is no disclosure of company sponsorship
  • Merck paid an undisclosed sum to Elsevier to produce several volumes (confirmed by Elsevier)

Unsurprised by such odious behavior from a pharmaceutical giant like Merck, Spoetnik still thinks it "remarkable that 'the reliable and authorative' Elsevier, publisher of journals like the Lancet [and tons of U.S. periodicals], lends itself to a biased publication of articles that only serve as promotional material."

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