Ghostwritten Articles Promoted Off-Label Neurontin

Jamie Sheller

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According to researchers, the off-label marketing of gabapentin (Neurontin) was unwittingly aided by journals with lax ghostwriting and disclosure policies. Between 1997 and 2000, 13 published articles were ghostwritten and funded by Parke-Davis, a pharmaceutical company. There were 24 articles that the researchers identified as having resulted from Parke-Davis grants to Medical Education Systems to draft articles and letters to the editor regarding Neurontin, for medical journals. There was evidence that the articles and letters were ghostwritten by Parke-Davis represetatives. Researchers found 13 of the articles published in journals, some published by alternative journals, likely after being rejected by target journals. Out of the 13 published articles, only 2 disclosed receiving any funding from Parke-Davis, and none disclosed that Parke-Davis was involved in authoring the articles. But, at the time, those journals had less stringent requirements for disclosure than they do now.

Parke-Davis paid a $430 million settlement in 2004, in a lawsuit alleging that Parke-Davis promoted unapproved uses of Neurontin. Likewise, Pfizer recently paid a $2.3 billion settlement of criminal and civil charges that it promoted Bextra for off-label use.