Metrics, metrics, metrics. And here’s another one.

With so many drugs failing in the early going, there’s got to be a good way to measure the worth of all those lab rats, so what better way than to count - and even evaluate - the literature published. And it appears the Glaxo team does it better.

Between December 2006 and this past February, the drugmaker’s scientists* churned out more than double the 53 papers that appeared during the previous quarter. Researchers affilated* with the firm issued 125 articles, abstracts or scientific posters during those three months. And the quaity, as measured by Thomson Scientific Publishing, kept Glaxo on top.

Rounding out the top five were AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer and Lilly. Further down the list of 15 companies and organizations: the National Institute of Mental Health, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sepracor, Wyeth, Schering-Plough, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis.

Missing in action: Roche.

* Here’s an Update. John Mack of PharmaMarketingBlog took Pharmalot to task for not making clear that ‘affiliated researchers’ is a euphemism used to include ghostwriters. That’s a good point; not everyone may realize that it’s unlikely Glaxo’s lab rats churned out every paper in such a short time. And so while Glaxo may yet have the brainiest scientists, one could also argue Glaxo Has The Most Productive Ghostwriters as well. Perhaps John will approve of this alternate headline.

You can read the whole report here.[tags]GlaxoSmithKline[/tags]