US firm accused of manipulating journal articles and paying millions to authors

The US medical device company Medtronic was “heavily involved in drafting, editing, and shaping the content of medical journal articles authored by its physician consultants,” who were paid hundreds of millions of dollars by the company through royalties and consulting fees, a US Senate Finance Committee staff investigation has found.1

The committee investigated 13 journal articles related to Medtronic’s product Infuse, a bone growth stimulating protein approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002 for use in spinal fusion surgery.2 The protein is used in conjunction with a Medtronic spinal fusion device for treatment of …