Drug manufacturer Pfizer, US, is reportedly trying to force the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) to disclose certain confidential statements made by the journal's expert reviewers. The company has issued a subpoena demanding that the journal release the identities and comments of its referees, who normally remain anonymous so that they can feel free to give their honest opinions.
Pfizer is putting pressure on the journal to make public the names and comments of its anonymous peer reviewers who judged a dozen studies into two of the company's pain-killing drugs - Celebrex and Bextra. Both these drugs belong to the same class of Cox-2 inhibitors as Vioxx, which was withdrawn in September 2004 owing to fears that it had caused thousands of heart attacks and strokes. Even though Bextra has been withdrawn, Celebrex is still on sale.
It is expected that a US district court judge will rule this week on whether Pfizer can force the journal to release the information. Some scientists claim that the confidential peer-review system that science uses to evaluate the merits of prepublication research will be damaged if the court rules in favour of Pfizer.
As part of its defence, Pfizer is seeking any additional information that may support its case. The motion filed by the company says that scientific journals such as NEJM may have received manuscripts that contain exonerating data for the drugs which would be relevant for Pfizer's causation defence.
The motion claims that the public has no interest in protecting the editorial process of a scientific journal.
More News in this Theme
