For the release of its antidepressant Zoloft in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Pfizer orchestrated a ghostwriting program in which a medical communications company prepared 85 scientific articles on the drug. Pfizer then paid academics to put their names on them while concealing the company’s central role.
Pfizer was later hit with a record $2.3 billion fine by the U.S. Department of Justice for fraudulent marketing practices involving multiple drugs.
Attribution: — Internal Pfizer documents (UCSF Industry Documents Library) + U.S. Department of Justice, 2009
Links: UCSF Ghostwriting: https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/drug/search/?q=ghostwriting
DOJ Settlement: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history