Excellent article in the WSJ on Vioxx and the New England Journal of Medicine

In a really well written and researched piece the Wall Street Journal today takes a long look at the saga of The New England Journal of Medicine and it's publication, and then revision of, the Vioxx study that is referred to as the VIGOR study.

While the general details of how the article was published and promoted by Merck in their sales literature, what hasn't been reported until now is the time line and responses of The New England Journal, or how much money they made off of reprint requests from Merck of that particular article.

It is a great cautionary tale of the conflicts that exist between the publishing, medical and pharmaceutical industries.

You can find the full article here.

Registration is typically required for the online WSJ, but given the depth and scope of their reporting it's well worth it.