Guest Authorship, Mortality Reporting, and Integrity in Rofecoxib Studies—Reply
- Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPHEditor in Chief, JAMA;
- Phil B. Fontanarosa, MD, MBAExecutive Deputy Editor, JAMA
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- ALZHEIMER DISEASE
- AUTHORSHIP
- CLINICAL TRIALS AS TOPIC
- COGNITION DISORDERS
- DATA INTERPRETATION, STATISTICAL
- DISCLOSURE
- DRUG INDUSTRY
- ETHICS, RESEARCH
- JOURNALISM, MEDICAL
- MORTALITY
- RESEARCH DESIGN
- RESEARCH SUPPORT AS TOPIC
- ROFECOXIB
In Reply: Dr Ferris and colleagues suggest that we incorrectly assumed that he and his coauthors, Dr Kirby and Dr Thal, were “uninvolved ‘guest’ authors ” and is critical that we did not contact him prior to publication of the article by Ross et al.1 However, had we contacted Ferris for such clarification, the available evidence would have confirmed our concerns. Although Ferris, Kirby, and Thal apparently were involved with various aspects of the Merck Rofecoxib 078 study, including reportedly assisting with study design, enrolling patients, and serving on the end point adjudication committee, it appears that these individuals had limited involvement as authors responsible for the manuscript.
As Ferris et al indicate in their letter, the manuscript was drafted in August 2003 by Merck employees, and only after that were Ferris, Kirby, and Thal “approached about being coauthors on the paper.” In a September 12, 2003, e-mail correspondence …
