Aussie Civil Suit Uncovers Fake Medical Journals

Diet drug successes? Bariatric surgery results? What could possibly go wrong?

"An ongoing class-action trial against Merck & Co. has included claims of a series of controversial marketing techniques that have roiled the international science community -- including the creation of phony medical journals full of previously published studies favorable to Merck's drugs.

The trial in Australia, one of many held worldwide over Merck's recalled drug Vioxx, has opened what plaintiffs call a trove of internal material from the company related to how it promoted the blockbuster arthritis drug that, before its recall in 2004, generated more than $2 billion in sales a year.

Vioxx has been linked to many thousands of strokes and heart attacks including, plaintiffs claim, those of some 1,000 Australians, according to court documents. The plaintiffs in the case have presented evidence revealing a range of sales tactics, from a bizarre motivational Vioxx music video for the sales staff set to the melody of Ricky Martin's 'She Bangs' to an internal Merck list of physicians with "anti-Merck" medical views to be 'neutralized.'"

That, among other things.

It is better to be fit than sorry.