Further developments relating to Prempro and Wyeth documents
There were two interesting developments in the ongoing story of ghostwriting documents relating to Wyeth and Prempro. First on Friday 20th the St Petersburg Times of Florida reported that Wyeth was to release up to 300, 000 documents which are currently under court seal. Apparently these documents relate to the development, sales and marketing of hormone therapies, including Prempro. The papers were released because of a Florida legal technicality which prevents documents remaining under seal if they may conceal a “public hazard”. Lawyers for one woman suing the company was preparing to argue in a hearing that Prempro was such a hazard and hence that these documents should be released. However, Pfizer, which now owns Wyeth, decided not to contest this hearing and allow the release of the documents. The company is still arguing that some documents, which relate to hormone therapy under development, should remain confidential.
Meanwhile earlier this month DIDA added 15 new documents to the archive. According to Kim Klausner, the Tobacco Digital Library Manager at University of California, San Francisco, who manages the DIDA archive, these documents include “Depositions from Karen Mittleman, the DesignWrite staffer who worked on Wyeth’s publication plan for Premarin products. She responds to questions about how academic authors, her medical communications company and the drug manufacturer implemented its plan.”