That hot new medical study may not have been written by a doctor

Instead, somebody at Merck may have ghostwritten it.

That’s right, Big Pharma has not only been peddling free drug samples to doctors, it’s also been shilling out pre-made research papers, just waiting for a friendly signature.

“It almost calls into question all legitimate research that’s been conducted by the pharmaceutical industry with the academic physician,” said Dr. Joseph S. Ross, whose article, written with colleagues, was published in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.

JAMA was burned by one ghostwritten column, in 2002.