A 1999 clinical study that Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) said was done to test side effects of its now-withdrawn painkiller Vioxx was done primarily to support a marketing campaign before its launch, according to researchers.
The real aim of the study, called ADVANTAGE, was to promote prescription of the new medicine when it became available -- a so-called "seeding" project -- U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
"Documentary evidence shows that ADVANTAGE is an example of marketing framed as science," they wrote in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Kevin Hill, a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and colleagues said the findings showed how studies masquerading as clinical science could be used to bolster marketing plans.
A provision in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act blocked Planned Parenthood’s health centers from...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of New World screwworm in a 3-week-old calf...
A smart drug that stops cancer cells “hiding” from treatment can shrink tumours by at least...
