A Ghostwritten Book Mysteriously Disappears
12 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // April 12th, 2011 // 7:13 am
File this under The Case of The Missing Book. When last seen, Scientific Therapeutics Information was at the center of an ongoing controversy over an allegedly ghostwritten book - yes, an entire book - that was published in 1999 by the American Psychiatric Association. Funding came from a grant provided by SmithKline Beecham, which is now part of GlaxoSmithKline (back story).
The listed co-authors were Charles Nemeroff, who chairs the psychiatry department at the University of Miami medical school, and Alan Schatzberg, who until recently chaired the psychiatry department at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Both men were at the center of a long-running probe by the US Senate Finance Committee into undisclosed conflicts of interest among academic researchers. They were also regular speakers for Glaxo, which makes the Paxil antidepressant (see here and here).
STI, which was also targeted by the same committee over alleged ghostwriting activities surrounding Merck’s Vioxx painkiller (see here), provided drafts directly to Glaxo for comments and sign-off, as well as this 1997 status report and page proofs to the credited authors. Nemeroff and Schatzberg, however, have insisted they did all the work on the book. For its part, the APA has denied any ghostwriting, although the organization has stonewalled requests to disclose paperwork that might support its position (see this).
However, MI Watch, a non-profit devoted to tracking mental illness issues, discovered STI listed the book, entitled “Recognition and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: A Psychopharmacology Handbook for Primary Care,” in the portfolio section on its web site (see this). At least, until recently. A visit to the site now yields a message saying the page cannot be found. None of its published work, in fact, is currently visible. This is an odd turn of events for a firm that boasts “STI’s dedicated and experienced editorial staff can create a strategic publication plan to meet your goals and messaging.”
So we called John Romankiewicz, a PharmD who started the firm 26 years ago, to ask about the missing info. His explanation? “Thanks for the inquiry,” he responded abruptly, “but we don’t display that kind of stuff on our web site.” We replied by noting that the info had been there previously, but then we heard a loud…click. Perhaps, he realized that listing the book as a portfolio product does not easily square with the APA position that ghostwriting did not take place. And taking down the product portfolio might also make it more difficult to scrutinize other STI work. Given how fast he hung up, though, one might have thought we uttered the magic word: “Boo!”
pic thx to mattwi1s0n on flickr
MsPiggy
These sleazy people will never admit anything; not even if we had video & witnesses showing them standing over the dead body, knife in hand, wearing the bloody glove….
When no one is ever held accountable in the industry for their (at best unethical) actions, this is what you get.
LF Velez
I’m sure the Internet WayBack Machine will be very busy with their URL for the next few weeks…
industry insider
Things don’t “just” disappear. This is similar to the story of Dr. Alan Greenspan’s PhD dissertation, which mysteriously “disappeared” from the NYU library a number of years ago. Apparently some of Greenspan’s former economic theories as a student were at odds with his later views, and perhaps someone wished to remove the inconsistency.
Stephany
Seriously, it’s as if the U.S. has a corner on the market of dirty rotten scoundrals or better yet, paid doctors, bribery…it’s pharma mafia!! Players in this field are becoming recognizable to the general public now, so why do they continue to attempt to lie and deny?
These ppl need to be stopped, not just fined or written about; they need serious prison time, and let’s start with Nemeroff, Biederman and other doctors who took money from pharma and helped push drugs that eventually harm the innocent people and children.
I’m fed up!
MsPiggy
Of course John Romankiewicz is going to hang up…appears he’s the big player behind the hatching of this dubious ghost writing rouse’.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/43761504/Gw-Attachment-A
Christopher
Piggy you seem to have a rather keen interest in this topic so could you please explain the connection between that document and the ghost writing rouse (sic)? I can see none.
Insider
MsPiggy, I agree with your first post. THat is very much correct even if it is obvious they will not agree. Total lack of integrity in this bussines is disgusting particularly when it invovles the safety of children.
Please
Isn’t your time more valuable than to worry about some stupid listing on a website… Get a life!!!
John M. Nardo MD
Ed,
First re:Please’s comment. Most of us are more than pleased with the life you’ve got.
Second: Your parting comment ["Given how fast he hung up, though, one might have thought we uttered the magic word: “Boo!”"] was a flash of pure brilliance!
Third: John Romankiewicz is having a bad week. POGO just posted Sally Laden’s testimony from a 2007 Paxil Law suit from back in her STI days [http://pogoarchives.org/m/ph/sally-laden-sti-deposition-20070315.pdf].
Justice in MI
Cheers to Ed for the way he pursued this story and reported it. Thanks, as always!
Stephany
All documents containing the same players names and the word Paxil are important –keep up the good work here and at Boring Old Man blog shining the light on this snake pit, too bad Romankiewicz hung up, which shows he is actually wanting to avoid the TRUTH, WHICH is business as usual for pharma and cohorts!
You can run but you can’t hide!
Ken
Even Pharma folks call (know) that people like Charles Nemeroff and Alan Schatzberg industry PIMPs!