How the New England Journal of Medicine Missed Warning Signs on Vioxx
The New England Journal of Medicine waited until Vioxx had already been recalled before it reported flaws in a 2000 article praising Merck's pain drug. But the influential journal's role in the drug debacle has so far received little attention. Journalists at WSJ bring some information to light: 5/15/06: How the New England Journal of Medicine Missed Warning Signs on Vioxx
Excerpt: "Merck says the extra heart attacks, three in total, happened after a predetermined cutoff date for recording events in the trial. Merck says the article was properly done and doesn't require a correction. That puts the company at odds both with critics of the New England Journal and the journal's editors, who now are calling for a correction while defending their failure to ask for one earlier.
Dr. Drazen says journal editors are "just the middleman in picking what goes out there" and "when there are problems the onus lies with" authors to sound the alert. "If you ask me, it is none of our concern about whether [Vioxx] is a cardiovascular risk in the patients that are on trial," he says. The concern was making sure what was published was correct, he says, and "people could have set the record straight.""
Further Reading: "Expression of Concern" published by the New England Journal of Medicine Dec. 29, 2005, about the Vigor trial.
[permanent link]
Excerpt: "Merck says the extra heart attacks, three in total, happened after a predetermined cutoff date for recording events in the trial. Merck says the article was properly done and doesn't require a correction. That puts the company at odds both with critics of the New England Journal and the journal's editors, who now are calling for a correction while defending their failure to ask for one earlier.
Dr. Drazen says journal editors are "just the middleman in picking what goes out there" and "when there are problems the onus lies with" authors to sound the alert. "If you ask me, it is none of our concern about whether [Vioxx] is a cardiovascular risk in the patients that are on trial," he says. The concern was making sure what was published was correct, he says, and "people could have set the record straight.""
Further Reading: "Expression of Concern" published by the New England Journal of Medicine Dec. 29, 2005, about the Vigor trial.
[permanent link]
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