Ghost Science and pharmaceutical research: Statistics without data and other
weapons of mass deception

This is not the best of times for academic medicine involving pharmaceuticals. Doctors and patients rely on the scientific literature to make rational decisions. Many incidents have cast doubt on the honesty of that literature. Pharmaceutical companies have developed an extraordinary stranglehold over academic life,journals, governments, regulators, and common sense. "Authors" of " scientific" publications have been denied access to raw data in several instances. Those charged with regulating integrity have colluded with scientific fraud. Fear of litigation and the flow of advertising and grant revenue have inhibited proper discussion.