鈥淕HOSTWRITTEN鈥� articles commissioned by drug company Wyeth may have led to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) being recommended to healthy menopausal women, despite .
So says Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University in Washington DC, an expert witness for thousands of women with breast cancer who are suing Pfizer 鈥� which acquired Wyeth in 2009 鈥� for damages. She analysed 1500 documents made public through litigation and found controversial statements about the HRT Prempro in dozens of peer-reviewed articles drafted for Wyeth by communications firms. The articles were published under the names of doctors and scientists, who approved them, often with few changes (PLoS Medicine, ).
鈥淐ontroversial statements about the HRT pill Prempro were found in dozens of articles drafted for Wyeth鈥�
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In 2002, a showed conclusively that HRT did not reduce cardiovascular disease, and increased the risk of breast cancer. Yet ghostwritten articles published after this date downplayed the 2002 study, suggesting that there was no consensus on Prempro鈥檚 breast cancer risk.
Pfizer says Fugh-Berman鈥檚 study fails to acknowledge significant changes undertaken by drug companies to strengthen disclosure in connection with medical literature.
