February 27, 2006

Derek Lowe on the co-authors' response to the NEJM editorial on Vioxx:

Looking at everything together, I'm still coming down on the side of Merck and their academic collaborators in this part of the fight. The post-launch cardiovascular data on Vioxx and its advertising and promotion are worth debating separately, but as for the VIGOR study, I think the NEJM is overreaching. Still, from Merck's viewpoint, I think the damage has already been done. . .

Update: Y'know, it occurs to me that there are a few people who aren't as upset about all this editorial wrangling: the editors of JAMA and the other top-ranked medical journals. They'll be getting some manuscripts that otherwise would have gone to NEJM.

Commenter tgibbs: "I lean toward the explanation that the editors of NEJM are simply statistically illiterate." Also out there: Jim Hu, Janet Stemwedel, and Kevin MD.

See Point of Law Feb. 22 and links therein.