JAMA's editor, Catherine D. DeAngelis, said her journal had been duped by a ghostwritten manuscript in 2002 that compared Vioxx with two competitors' drugs for knee pain, and she acknowledged that editors bore some responsibility, writes Philly Inquirer's Kari Stark.

While you thought that those Vioxx studies in medical journals were independent, hands-off affairs that may not have been necessarily true. An examination of medical journal articles about Vioxx and court documents from Vioxx lawsuits found that Merck employees or ghostwriters were frequently involved in various articles, but the primary authors were often academics who actually had little to do with the studies or didn’t always disclose financial ties to Merck.

Things are getting more and more scary over at Schering-Plough and Merck as the problems with the cholesterol lowering drugs are looming and Lehman downgraded the stock of Merck. Most readers are aware of the ongoing Vytorin scandal and the Enhance trial debacle.

FDA has started to look into the additional side effects of Merck's Singulair drug for Asthma treatment as reports link suicidal thoughts to Singulair.

Merck KGaA, the world's biggest maker of liquid crystals for televisions, stated fourth- quarter profit .

Merck says it voluntarily recalls Hib vaccine due to contamination in the equipment in which the vaccine is made. Merck Hib vaccine recall includes around 1.2 million doses.

Merck Agreement Provides for $4.85 Billion Vioxx Settlement Payment.

Merck & Co., Inc. announced on July 24 second-quarter 2007 results that reflected an increase in earnings per share of 12% fueled by strong performance across a broad range of the Company's products.

ARIAD and Merck & Co., Inc. Announce Global Collaboration to Jointly Develop and Commercialize AP23573 - ARIAD's Novel mTOR Inhibitor - for Cancer

Merck & Co., Inc. confirmed on May 11th that it has received an approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Company's New Drug Application (NDA) for EMEND® (fosaprepitant dimeglumine) For Injection, also known as MK-0517, an investigational intravenous therapy for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).