Lawsuit claims Pfizer execs wanted to bury studies

A lawsuit against Pfizer is turning up some intensely embarrassing memos that show the marketing department's hands-on approach to new research studies that don't exactly bolster their sales pitch.

"We are not interested at all in having this paper published because it is negative!!" wrote Angela Crespo, Pfizer's senior marketing manager in 2002, about a new study of the company's blockbuster Neurontin. And Michael Rowbothan, then Neurontin's marketing team leader, wrote this in an email: "I think we can limit the potential downsides of the...study by delaying the publication for as long as possible."

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Pfizer said the company is "committed to the communication of medically or scientifically significant results of all studies, regardless of outcome."

- read the article in the Wall Street Journal

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