Glaxo Had Ghostwriting Program To Promote Paxil
The AP is out with a report that GlaxoSmithKline had a major ghostwriting program in place to help promote its anti-depressant Paxil.
“An internal company memo instructs salespeople to approach physicians and offer to help them write and publish articles about their positive experiences prescribing the drug.
“Known as the CASPPER program, the paper explains how the company can help physicians with everything from ‘developing a topic,’ to ‘submitting the manuscript for publication.’”
“The document was uncovered by the Baum Hedlund PC law firm of Los Angeles, which is representing hundreds of former Paxil users in personal injury and wrongful death suits against GlaxoSmithKline. The firm alleges the company downplayed several risks connected with its drug, including increased suicidal behavior and birth defects….
“According to the memo, which dates from April 2000, the CASPPER program was designed to ‘strengthen the product positioning and overcome competitive issues.’”
The AP reports that five published articles from this sleazy program appeared in print between 2000 and 2002 including ones published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The specific articles are not identified. I think the journals involved either need to retract the articles or issue an explanation of why they contain sound scientific evidence. I suspect that the infamous Martin Keller-led Paxil Study 329 would be one of these papers. It was published in the JAACAP in 2001.
GlaxoSmithKline, Paxil’s maker, claims that the program was discontinued several years ago.
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